AMERICAN SNIPE 



3 1 



of this genus are to be found all over the world, and 

 almost everywhere their habits are more or less alike. 

 During their migrations they frequent fresh meadows 

 or wet ground, where the worms and insects which 

 constitute their food are to be found. They are swift 

 of wing, make long journeys, and, for the most part, 

 breed well to the North. It is not, however, the cold 

 which causes them to migrate, but rather the scarcity 

 of food which precedes the advent of cold weather. 

 Many of the snipe along the Atlantic coast migrate 

 to a locality only just below the frost line. Often they 

 may be seen at any time in the winter on the fresh 

 meadows of Virginia and North Carolina, and if cold 

 weather should come and a freeze take 'place, they 

 move on forty or fifty miles southward, to return again 

 as soon as milder weather has softened their feeding 

 grounds. 



The snipe goes southward to the Gulf of Mexico 

 and beyond. As worked out by the American Ornith- 

 ologists' Union, the range of the snipe is essentially as 

 follows : North America and South America. Breeds 

 from northwestern Alaska, northern Mackenzie, cen- 

 tral Keewatin and northern Ungava, south to northern 

 California, southern Colorado, northern Iowa, northern 

 Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Winters from 

 northern California, New Mexico, Arkansas and North 

 Carolina, through Central America and West Indies 

 to Columbia and southern Brazil; remains in winter 

 casually and locally north to Washington and Mon- 

 tana, Nebraska, Illinois and Nova Scotia. Accidental 



