WILSON'S SNIPE. 201 



which oftentimes induces them to abandon the very best of feed- 

 ing-grounds to go in quest of like spots elsewhere ; and this to us 

 appears a very unnatural as well as untenable supposition. 



Snipes, like woodcocks, are most voracious feeders, and require 

 an immensity of food, and consequently are obliged to shift their 

 ground much more frequently than many other kinds of birds. 

 This circumstance alone is quite sufficient in most cases not abso- 

 lutely dependent upon the weather to account for their erratic 

 propensities. When feeding in situations where there is a plenti- 

 ful supply of food, it is often a very difficult task even for the 

 most zealous sportsman to drive them off; and we have more than 

 once been quite surprised at their apparent tameness, as indicated 

 by their short flights after repeated harassing over some one of 

 these favored feeding-grounds. 



In all their peripatetic vagaries snipes are seldom or never found 

 in the woods, but delight in the low, wet meadow-lands, or along the 

 margins of the secluded streams which are so numerous through- 

 out our country ; they may occasionally be found in the cornfields, 

 more particularly if the weather is rainy, as well as in the thin 

 woods and even briery thickets, but they do not frequent these 

 situations except under peculiar conditions of the atmosphere. 



DIFFICULT TO BE SHOT. 



The flight of the snipe, together with its shyness during its 

 sojourn at the North, and the disagreeable nature of the ground 

 that it alone frequents, renders it the most difficult as well as the 

 most fatiguing and vexatious of birds to hunt. When sprung, it 

 takes wing very hastily, and flies off in rapid zigzag lines for a 

 few paces, in such a confused, irregular, and tortuous course that 

 it is almost impossible even for a snap-shot, during this time, to 

 cover the bird for an instant while performing these elliptical 

 gyrations. 



Snipe-shooting, not only in England but also in our own coun- 

 try, may very justly be pronounced the "crux jaculatorum" of 

 sportsmen, as there is no game which requires more skill and judg- 



