WILSON'S SNIPE. 341 



and hundreds in fields of a few acres. At the first shots, dozens in succession 

 would take to wing, each emitting its cry of wau-aik, after which they 

 would rise in the air, gradually collect, fly around a few times to the distance 

 of some hundred yards, and returning pitch towards the ground, and alight, 

 with the velocity of an arrow, not many yards from the spot where they 

 had previously been. In a few minutes they would all disperse, to seek for 

 food. So much are they at times attached to particular spots, that the 

 sportsmen continue to shoot them until their number is reduced to a few, 

 which having perhaps been several times shot at, become extremely wary, 

 and are left to entice others to join them, so that another day's sport may be 

 obtained. It is not rare to find some of these birds in the immediate vicinity 

 of Charleston, when they are pursued by the younger gunners, and some- 

 times by keen sportsmen. I have known eight or ten procured by one 

 person in a short time, between that city and the race-ground, which is 

 scarcely a mile distant. They are also abundant in the wet savannahs in the 

 Floridas, from which they retire a few weeks earlier than from Louisiana 

 and the Carolinas, where some remain until the beginning of April. During 

 the whole of the winter months, these birds are observed to ramble from one 

 place to another, and a field which yesterday contained a good number, has 

 only a few to-day, and to-morrow may be quite deserted. But before the 

 end of a week, there you will find them again, as abundant as at first. They 

 rarely visit salt waters, and never resort to the interior of the woods. 



The flight of the Snipe while travelling to some distance, is performed at 

 a considerable elevation, by regular and quickly repeated beats of the wings. 

 Yet they do not appear as if pursuing a direct course, for every now and 

 then they deviate a little to either side. They pass over rapidly, however, 

 and are able to travel to a great distance in a short time. Their migrations, 

 although performed singly, or in small parties of a single family, may be said 

 to be in a manner continuous, as in the course of a few days a whole section 

 of country, in which none had been seen for several months, becomes well 

 supplied with them. When surprised by the sportsman, or any other enemy, 

 they usually rise at one spring, dash through the air in a zig-zag course, 

 a few feet from the ground, emit their cry when about twenty yards distant, 

 and at times continue to employ this cunning mode of escape for sixty or 

 seventy yards, after which they mount into the air, and perform the rounds 

 already described. I have found the instant at which they utter their note 

 of alarm the best for pulling the trigger; but almost every sportsman has his 

 peculiar fancy, and many are glad to kill them the best way they can; for 

 he who shoots thirty Snipes in succession, without missing one, is a good 

 hand at any kind of shooting. Sometimes the Snipe will squat with great 

 pertinacity, and even stand a pointer, while at other times it will not suffer 



Vol. V. 4S 



