GALLINAGO WILSONI : AMERICAN SNIPE. 1 97 



Straggling lines of what appears to be pure black. 

 The other markings have the ordinary splashed or 

 blotched character. The nest-complement is three or 

 four. A set of eggs in the Smithsonian is labelled 

 Oneida County, New York. The nest is a mere depres- 

 sion in the grass or moss of a boggy meadow ; the 

 down of the newly-hatched young is mottled with white, 

 ashy, ochrey, and dark brown. 



It is, however, in the character of spring and autumn 

 migrant that the Snipe chiefly figures in New England. 

 Occasionally those that have bred in the high north 

 appear in August ; but the migration is not in force until 

 the second week in September, from which period until 

 late in October good shooting may be had. The spring 

 movement is mainly in April. 



I like very well the way in which the collaborator 

 of Minot's Birds of New England has exploded one pop- 

 ular fallacy respecting the Snipe : " In all the accounts 

 of these birds which are accessible to him, the author 

 finds the ancient, time-honored tradition, that the Snipe 

 always begin their flights by rapid zigzags, so that it 

 behooves the shooter either to fire at the instant when 

 the birds attain the height of their first spring or to 

 wait till they have completed their zigzags and begin 

 their steady flight. The beginner, deeply impressed 

 with these statements, his mind filled with the idea that 

 the flight of the Snipe is much like that of a tortuous 

 lightning flash through a cloud, sets out, and, adopting 

 one or the other of these absurd rules, is sure to miss. 

 Inasmuch as the Snipe, five times out of six, in most 

 weather, does not spring at all, to fire at the height of 

 the first spring means to the beginner to fire as soon as 

 he can, that is, as much as possible before he gets his 



