134 FEATHERED GAME 
selves want it split up, so, apparently every- 
body was pleased for once. 
The Snipe is a fine fellow and a worthy ac- 
quaintance for any gunner. He usually lies 
well to the dog and gives forth a fairly strong 
scent which a good dog will perceive at some 
distance. He closely resembles his highly es- 
teemed cousin, the woodcock, in his mode of 
life, getting his living by boring in the mud of 
the swamps and boggy places, both sea marsh 
and inland, feeding on the worms and larvae 
found there just as the woodcock does in the 
moist places in the upland and the woods. I 
have often known of Snipe being shot in a 
woodcock cover, and in one instance it took six 
cartridges to bring him to grass—this, too, by 
good woodeock shots. That they were greatly 
surprised at seeing him there and at hearing 
his indignant ‘‘Sca-a-aipe! Sca-a-aipe!’’ as he 
dodged about among the branches may have 
had something to do with their poor shooting. 
It may also be that the thickly growing brush 
added a few extra aerial gymnastics to a flight 
which is under any conditions sufficiently erratic 
for most wing-shots. 
As a rule it is in the spring that I meet Mr. 
