332 Wild JJuck and Snipe. 



was something astonishing. They only stayed a few 

 days. 



How man}' times I have endeavored to trace the 

 V said to be formed b}' duck while flying, and failed 

 to detect it ! Thej' fl}', it is true, in some sort of 

 order, but those that come to the mere here travel 

 rather in a row, or line, slanting forwards, something 

 like what military men call in echelon. The teal seem 

 much bolder than the wild duck : they are often shot 

 as they rise out of the brooks ; but the ducks very 

 rarely go to the brooks at all, and can still more 

 rarely be approached when the}' do. They swim in 

 the water-carriers in the great irrigated meadows, but 

 are careful to remain far out of range ; so that the 

 only way to shoot them b}' day is for two or more 

 sportsmen to post themselves behind the hedges in 

 different places while a third drives them up. 



The first snipes are seen generally in the arable 

 lands, afterwards round the lake — the muddy shores 

 by choice — and finally in the brooks. As the winter 

 advances they seem to quit the lake in great part 

 and go down to the brooks. A streamlet that runs 

 through a peat}' field is a favorite spot. The little 

 jack-snipe frequent the water-carriers in the irrigated 

 meadows and the wet furrows. When the lake is 

 frozen over the wild duck stand on the ice in the 

 daytime for hours together, leaving the marks of 

 their feet on it. 



In walking along the shore, lines of drift may be 

 noticed, marking the height to which the waves 

 driven by the wind have carried the floating twigs, 

 weeds, and leaves : just as along the sea the beach 

 is formed into terraces by the changing height of 



