330 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



been found in September, and in every month in the year, which 

 has given rise to the speculation that they might have bred 

 here, but that has never been proved to have occurred by the 

 discovery of eggs. They are migrants from the North, frail 

 creatures which surrender themselves to the wind, and apparently 

 thereby avoid the wave. At any rate, large numbers of them 

 do survive, although doubtless many in adverse winds miss the 

 coasts and perish, like woodcocks, in the Atlantic Ocean. The 

 course in the air taken by these birds is not well known. It 

 has been affirmed that many woodcock arrive first on the north 

 and west coast of Ireland, and most of the jack snipe on the 

 south-east coast, and although we are inclined to regard 

 instinct and the migratory sense is an instinct as an uncon- 

 trollable impulse which always acts in the same way, it appears 

 to have results that are not to be thus accounted for, and the 

 birds arrive in turn on all the coasts and by various routes. 



The Wilson snipe in America is closely allied to our full 

 snipe, although it ranks as a species. It is even more migratory 

 than our own bird, some of which always breed in England, 

 Ireland, and Scotland. But the Wilson snipe leaves the Northern 

 States in the winter and makes its way to the lands warmed by 

 the soft airs off the Gulf of Mexico. Snipe, then, in most of the 

 States are only to be shot in the autumn and spring migrations. 

 Probably the finest snipe shooting ever experienced in America, 

 and only to be matched in India and Burmah, was that obtained 

 by Mr. Pringle in Louisiana, an account of which he has pub- 

 lished in book form. 



The full snipe generally utters a sharp cry on taking wing, 

 the jack is silent; but the breeding cry of the former differs 

 materially from its note of fright, and at the same time that it 

 utters the former it sometimes shoots downwards and makes 

 another air vibration with its wings or tail. This has been said 

 to be a vocal sound, but the author is quite sure this view would 

 not be held by anyone who watched the bird through a field- 

 glass. It may be seen to descend while making the noise 

 which has given it the rustic name of " heather bleater," and it 

 does this with a closed bill ; but upon occasion it opens its bill, 



