56 SCOLOPACID.E. 



put this method of watching for them in practice, in order to 

 observe the habits of the birds in question. 



We believe that most practised sportsmen know the local- 

 ity where Snipes are to be looked for, but it may be as well 

 to add a short notice on this subject for the use of the inex- 

 perienced. 



In our latitude, Snipes arrive twice in the year ; first in 

 the month of March, on their way northward, where they 

 breed ; and again in September and October, on their course 

 southward, to pass the winter. It is not exactly known how 

 far south the Snipe migrates to pass the winter, but it is a 

 well known fact, that in the Pontine marshes near Rome, 

 the number congregated during the winter months exceeds all 

 conception, which eye-witnesses have proved by firing a gun 

 near the spot, when so many Snipes get up as to form as it 

 were a cloud of smoke rising, of the numbers composing 

 which, it is impossible to make any statement or calculation. 

 The unsociable nature of the Snipe is here clearly proved, 

 insomuch as that these birds will lie close beside one another 

 without taking notice of their neighbours, and when they 

 rise in a body, each takes its own way, and settles far or near 

 according to its fancy, without caring what becomes of the 

 rest. After a time, single birds are seen again to return to 

 the spot. 



This latter propensity enables a person, who waits for 

 them in the evening, to kill a Snipe and return to his post 

 over and over again, waiting for the next comer. Where the 

 number of any species of birds is so great during the time 

 of migration, many travel the same road, and a circumstance, 

 as before-mentioned, of a person killing so many at one shot 

 is possible under particular circumstances, although not of 

 frequent occurrence. The Snipe always travels at night ; the 

 first sign of its vicinity is its peculiar note, and almost im- 



