178 scolopacidjE. 



favourable spots may, by leading them on from one to 

 another, be rather the causes of the migration, than, 

 as is usually supposed, merely halting places for re- 

 freshment on a previously projected journey to a distant 

 fixed terminus. 



The beginning of August is the legitimate commence- 

 ment of snipe shooting, and ought to be strictly adhered 

 to, though their destruction in the early spring (that is, 

 before the breeding time, instead of after it) is a practice 

 so general, in the Upper Province at least, and so com- 

 pletely established by custom, that no one appears ever 

 to reflect on the fact that for every couple then kiUed 

 a whole brood is lost. This practice has contributed in 

 no small degree to their rapid decrease, aided no doubt 

 by a more general drainage and improvement of the 

 land. Many famous snipe grounds in Upper Canada, 

 which I have in former days found literally swarming 

 with birds, are now comparatively deserted, and in order 

 to get good shooting it is necessary to go further afield 

 almost every succeeding year. Of course birds in a state 

 of migration are very uncertain in their haunts, and it 

 may happen that a place which abounds with snipe one 

 season may not afford more than a couple or two the 

 next, and even on consecutive days a similar circum- 

 stance may occur; but there is no denying the fact that 

 there is nowhere in Canada at the oresent day anything 



