THE WILSON SNIPE. 235 



with poles at night in the corn-fields, with the assistance of 

 a brilliant torch. Like the noble salmon, the woodcock be- 

 comes fascinated or stupefied by the brilliancy of the glare, 

 and falls a ready victim to the club of the midnight prowl- 

 er. America is now coming to that age that it is absolute- 

 ly necessary to insist on the laws being enforced for the 

 protection of game and fish. If not, half a century hence, 

 the haunts which now abound with game will be as thor- 

 oughly divested of it aj3 the Hudson or Connecticut rivers 

 are of the princely salmon. Once extermination takes place, 

 it will be too late tp do aught but repine. 



SNIPE abound throughout the prairies of Western Amer- 

 ica, far outdoing all other game in their abundance. The 

 Wilson snipe, for such is its proper name, is truly a splen- 

 did bird, so nearly similar to our own home beauty that the 

 skillful naturalist is alone able to distinguish the one from 

 the other ; in size, habits, flight, and even call, they are es- 

 sentially alike. 



Spending the winter months in the Southern States, prin- 

 cipally in those that border the Gulf of Mexico, as spring 

 advances they follow up northward the line of demarkation 

 between frost and thaw, ultimately arriving in that bound- 

 less expanse which stretches northward from the great 

 lakes to the Arctic Ocean. Up in this remote haunt is 

 their principal breeding -ground, although occasionally a 

 nest may be found much farther to the south ; but in such 

 instances I have been induced to believe that either the 

 male or the female bird had met with an accident, and thus 

 been prevented following the migration of his or her com- 

 panions. What a beautiful lesson all may learn from this ! 

 How it should speak home to the human heart, this attach- 

 ment of the mate, who, sooner than desert a companion, 

 forsakes for the time being his whole race, save one, and 



