112 With Rod and Gun in New England 



old snipe was very anxious for the safety of her young, and ran back and 

 forth between me and them until she had led them away ; as she moved 

 about she occasionally uttered her familiar cry, and it was this that had 

 led me to the discovery of their whereabouts. I was rather surprised to 

 find the snipe breeding in that locality, although I have often found them 

 in the nesting season in the same latitude. 



A close second to the woodcock in point of favor with both gourmet 

 and sportsman is the Wilson's snipe, Gattinago Wilsonii, often, though im- 

 properly, called the " English snipe," as it is a different species from its 

 European congenor. 



Like the woodcock it passes the winter in the south, being found in 

 great numbers in Texas, Louisiana, and other Gulf States, and moves north 

 with the advent of spring ; its migration is not as early, however, and its 

 stay with us is but a brief one, before its flight is resumed. 



Undoubtedly it nidifies to some extent in northern Maine, and I have 

 found them nesting in Cape Breton, N. S., but the breeding place of the 

 great body of this species is in a considerably higher latitude. In the 

 spring, when the snipe arrives, it frequents the marshes and meadows where 

 it feeds upon worms and insects, probing in the soft earth and mud for 

 them after the manner of the woodcock. 



At this season, while mating, although sometimes associating in 

 detached flocks, they are most often found in pairs. During the period of 

 courtship they occasionally mount high in the air, uttering their peculiar 

 cry of scaipc, scaipe, darting and circling around each other with the great- 

 est rapidity, and then diving down towards the earth, producing in their 

 quick descent a curious rolling or booming sound which is caused proba- 

 bly by the air passing through the quill feathers of their rigidly extended 

 wings. 



It is during the autumn migration, however, that the snipe has the 

 greatest attractions for the sportsman. This begins at about the middle 

 of September, although the birds sometimes arrive earlier, particularly after 

 a heavy northeast storm, when scores of them may be flushed in the area 

 of an acre or two. 



When taking wing they utter their squeaking cry and dart away in a 

 zigzag course which, to an inexperienced hunter, is very perplexing; this 

 Might soon changes, however, to a more direct one, and it is usually until 

 this happens that the sportsman reserves his fire. 



Snipe-shooting is by a great many gunners preferred above most other 

 field sports. It always occurs in the open meadows and marshes where 

 there are no trees or shrubbery to obstruct the aim, and as the birds, as a 

 rule, lie well to the dog and are generally found in considerable numbers 

 in their proper season, a day's outing among them is very enjoyable. Mr. 

 J. Moray Brown, an enthusiastic sportsman, says : " In snipe-shooting 



