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THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



Shooting Snipe dexterously, has always been considered 

 a difficult point to attain, and requires not only excellent 

 judgment, but much deliberation. The silent and rapid 

 manner which this bird springs from the ground, and the 

 zig-zag figure of its flight, oftentimes disappoints expert 

 shots, and puts them in doubt of their proficiency in the 

 science. I have known excellent shots at other objects, 

 miss Snipe five or six times in succession, but it is gene- 

 rally attributable to the common fault of shooting too 

 soon. 



In rising from the ground, the Snipe springs to the height 

 of five or six feet, and darts ofi" in a zig-zag manner, at the 

 commencement of which it utters a sound similar to the 

 word scape, and after continuing in this way for a distance, 

 perhaps, of twenty yards, directs a straight course, gradu- 

 ally ascending, until it reaches a certain height in the air, 

 when a few circuitous flights are performed, until another 

 spot to settle is fixed upon; this determined, it gradually 

 descends, and when near the earth, drops of a sudden in 

 the grass. Owing to this habit of alighting, many unskilled 

 persons are deceived, thinking it to "be the effect of a mortal 

 wound which causes the sudden stop, but on approaching 

 the spot where it settles, to their amazement, find the bird 

 will rise as freely as before. 



Our Snipe, although different in appearance from the 

 tTizcA-Snipe of England, is similar to it in habit, especially 

 in this manner of alighting on the ground; and the follow- 

 ing anecdote, related by Thornhill, in his Shooting Direc- 

 tory, may not be inappropriately inserted here, as tending 

 to show the disappointment of many, when in pursuit of 

 this game. He says, "a most curious circumstance occur- 

 red respecting a Jack-Snipe, that was sprung several times 

 by a Mr. Molloy, formerly a quarter-master of the 64th 

 regiment, while he was quartered at Geneva barracks, 

 Ireland, is worth relating: He regularly, after his duty was 

 done, or if he could possibly obtain leave for a day, used 

 to equip himself for shooting, and always sprung this Jack- 

 Snipe, at which he fired, and followed, and the bird used 

 to pitch so close to him at times, that he was confident he 

 had shot it, and used to run to take it up, when, to his 

 great surprise, it would rise, and fly a little farther; he 

 actually acknowledged he fired, one day, eighteen times 

 at this bird, and, after shooting at it for the whole season, 

 he happened to be crossing the bog it lay in, when he put 

 it up, and exclaiming, " there's my old friend," threw his 

 stick at it, and killed it on the spot; whenever after, any 

 of his brother officers found a Jack-Snipe, they were always 

 sure to say, " there goes Quarter-master Molloy." 



The proper manner of hunting Snipe is with the wind, 

 ag they not only lie much closer for the sportsman, 

 but having great aversion to the wind acting against their 



feathers, will, immediately after rising, head the wind, 

 and present a convenient cross shot; and should they be 

 plentiful, it is most advisable to hunt them without dogs, 

 as the sportsman can spring them himself with all conve- 

 nience. It is also important to success, to reserve the 

 fire until the irregularity of their flight is over, which 

 rarely exceeds twenty yards, and this being point blank 

 distance, will enable the shooter to kill his object, not only 

 with greater certainty, but more satisfaction. 



At times, the Snipe are exceedingly shy, and difficult to 

 approach, frequently springing up beyond the reach of your 

 shot, and again so tranquil as not to fly until almost trod- 

 den upon; satisfactory reasons for this diflference have never 

 yet, to my knowledge, been presented, but which, I think, 

 may be accounted for as follows. Snipe, like woodcock, 

 feed more during the night than the day, but more espe- 

 cially moonlight nights, on which occasions their wander- 

 ings are more severe and fatiguing, consequently, it will 

 be found, that on days succeeding those moonlight nights, 

 the Snipe, by reason of fatigue and satisfied appetite, 

 become more sluggish and inclined to be dormant. Again, 

 the migration of these birds always takes place during the 

 night season, gradually through the whole month of March, 

 and the early part of April, commencing about twilight in 

 the evening, and subsiding at the same period the next 

 morning, and will perform a journey, at a moderate calcu- 

 lation, of three or four hundred miles at one flight. Now, 

 when the sportsman encounters these birds the day after 

 their migratory flight, they are found to be very tenacious 

 of their resting-place, and quit it reluctantly; nor is it diffi- 

 cult to detect them, for whilst those Snipe which have 

 remained for days and recruited strength, will rise at too 

 great a distance for a successful shot, make their usual circu- 

 lar flight, and depart for some more distant feeding ground, 

 these will spring up only at your feet, fly a short distance, 

 and drop again into the grass, and continue these short 

 flights, until repeated persecution drives them completely 

 Oil'. These birds, after a long flight, will remain in rich 

 feeding ground for a number of days, and until they have 

 satisfied the cravings of hunger, or become sufficiently re- 

 cruited to continue their migration, when, being disturbed 

 during the day_, will make their final move the succeeding 

 night. In this way, sportsmen have often been disap- 

 pointed, when resorting to Snipe ground, find few, or no 

 birds, where, the day previous, they were in the greatest 

 abundance. 



The Snipe are occasionally to be found in swampy thick- 

 ets, but more generally in open meadows, with a soft 

 bottom, and more or less covered slightly with water, this 

 kind of ground abounds in the neighbourhood of Philadel- 

 phia, but since the excavation of the Chesapeake and 



