262 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



the association they have dubbed its author ' the shad spirit.' " Mr. Trumbull calls 

 attention to Nuttall's statement that in Massachussetts it is known as " the alewife 

 bird, from its arrival with the shoals of that fish," and that in like manner, and for 

 the same cause, on the Delaware it is called " shad bird," while in the south- 

 eastern parts of Illinois, according to Mr. Ridgeway, the common term for it is 

 " gutter snipe." 



The English snipe makes its appearance in New York about the middle of April, 

 seldom much earlier, and often a little later, if the weather is cold and the season 

 backward. The first warm rain which tempts the earth worms out of the ground is 

 pretty sure to bring with it a flight of snipe. And if the gunner knows any good 

 ground where a few birds still stop on their migration, he will be likely to visit it after 

 such a rain. Yet at this time the birds are usually in poor condition from their long 

 flight from the south, and as they are preparing to breed they should not be shot. If 

 this shooting in the spring were absolutely abolished, many more snipe would breed 

 in New York and the Middle States than do so at present, and when the shooting sea- 

 son opens in the fall these local and home bred birds would by just so much 

 increase the opportunities of the local gunner. In other words, where, by his spring 

 shooting, he has an opportunity to kill two birds, if he would wait until the autumn he 

 would have a chance to kill six. 



The snipe has been found breeding as far south as Maryland, and there are quite a 

 number of records of nests that have been found in Pennsylvania, New York and New 

 England. But owing to the persistent manner in which they are shot in the spring, 

 most of the snipe pass beyond the United States to breed, and lay their eggs in the 

 lonely marshes of Canada. 



It is this season of the year, when the days grow warm at mid-day, and the hylas 

 in the swamp are still noisy in the evening, when violets are in bloom and the blood 

 root blossoms show white on the borders of the wet meadows, that the drumming of 

 the snipe may be heard. This is a part of his love making, which is quite similar in 

 method to that of the woodcock. In the early morning, or at evening, or, when the 

 weather is dull and cloudy, at any time of the day, the snipe may be seen to rise in 

 wide spirals high above the earth, often almost disappearing from sight, and then to dart 

 down from on high with stiffened wings, uttering a twittering humming call, which has 

 been said to be caused in part by the stiff wing feathers against the air in the rapid 

 descent, but is no doubt. vocal. When he has almost reached the earth he checks his 

 fall and then drops into the grass, or perhaps he may alight on a fence, a tree twig or 

 an old stump, where he stands for a moment as if to be admired, and then drops 

 into the grass. There his mate is awaiting him, and about her he struts with head 

 thrown back, trailing wings and expanded tail, eager to win her admiration. 



