436 



ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



But no matter what the condition may be, every sports- 

 man, as soon as. the snows of winter have melted away and 

 the icy fetters of the ponds and brooks are removed, is on 

 the alert for the earliest arrival of Snipe, and when the first 

 birds are seen in the new grass and rnshes the welcome 

 news is soon spread among the fraternity and the short 

 season is improved. I confess to looking forward every 

 spring with the greatest eagerness for the arrival of this, 

 one of my favorite game birds. 



The American Snipe, as I think it should be called — for 

 it is the American Snipe pour excellence and different from 

 the English Snipe — is found usually in small detached flocks 

 or "wisps." A number of the birds migrate together 

 both in spring and in autumn, although not associated in 

 just what are called flocks. I have repeatedly found eight 

 or ten scattered birds on a meadow in the morning when 

 not a single Snipe could be seen on the preceding afternoon. 

 I have, however, in [Northern Maine in the fall seen large 

 numbers of Snipe in small flocks of eight or ten flying about 

 precisely like so many Plover, or yellow-legs, and have re- 

 peatedly called them down within shot by imitating the 

 whistle of the yellow-legs. 



The localities that are most often frequented by the Snipe 

 in the spring are fresh-water meadows in which there are 

 numerous spring-holes and brooks. In the autumn they are 

 found in almost any tracts where there are damp or wet 

 places such as low pastures, meadows, and the edges of 

 swamps. 



I am unable to say why it is, but there are certain portions 

 or tracts of meadows upon which Snipe are rarely found, 

 although they seem to offer every temptation, so far as mud- 

 holes and mucky soils are concerned, for them to alight. 



They are also often found in swamps and wet pastures, 

 and I have frequently shot them in cornfields when hunting 

 for Woodcock, particularly if those fields were situated near 

 the meadows and possessed a moist soil. 



