SNIPE. 431 



they are then very delicious morsels for the table. With us, 

 when they arrive in spring, they are lean, dry, and sinewy, 

 from long and hard exercise ; the period of breeding has 

 already begun, and well-developed eggs may often be found in 

 the females. There is as much difference between the rich, 

 tender, and juicy meat of the well-fed, lazy, autumn bird, and 

 the meagre, dry, and sinewy flesh of the spring traveler, as 

 between that of a stall-fed ox and that of a dray-horse. Yet 

 there are many to whose coarse palates no difference appears. 

 No doubt, it is hard to relinquish all field-sports in the spring ; 

 without such relief the period of inaction is long and tedious ; 

 one's fingers itch for the trigger. Yet spring Snipe-shooting 

 is a sorry pastime, and a wasteful one, unworthy of the true 

 sportsman. 



d. The notes of the Snipe are not susceptible of satisfac- 

 tory description ; their common note being a peculiar squeak, 

 while their extraordinary love-note is usually called " bleat- 

 ing.' 



