AMERICAN SNIPE 31 
of this genus are to be found all over the world, and 
almost everywhere their habits are more or less alike. 
During their migrations they frequent fresh meadows 
or wet ground, where the worms and insects which 
constitute their food are to be found. They are swift 
of wing, make long journeys, and, for the most part, 
breed well to the North. It is not, however, the cold 
which causes them to migrate, but rather the scarcity 
of food which precedes the advent of cold weather. 
Many of the snipe along the Atlantic coast migrate 
to a locality only just below the frost line. Often they 
may be seen at any time in the winter on the fresh 
meadows of Virginia and North Carolina, and if cold 
weather should come and a freeze take ‘place, they 
move on forty or fifty miles southward, to return again 
as soon as milder weather has softened their feeding 
grounds. 
The snipe goes southward to the Gulf of Mexico 
and beyond. As worked out by the American Ornith- 
ologists’ Union, the range of the snipe is essentially as 
follows: North America and South America. Breeds 
from northwestern Alaska, northern Mackenzie, cen- 
tral Keewatin and northern Ungava, south to northern 
California, southern Colorado, northern Iowa, northern 
Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Winters from 
northern California, New Mexico, Arkansas and North 
Carolina, through Central America and West Indies. 
to Columbia and southern Brazil; remains in winter 
casually and locally north to Washington and Mon- 
tana, Nebraska, Illinois and Nova Scotia. Accidental 
