88 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
Shooting Snipe dexterously, has always been considered 
a difficult point to attain, and requires not only excellent 
judgment, but much deliberation. The silent and rapid 
manner which this bird springs from the ground, and the 
zig-zag figure of its flight, oftentimes disappoints expert 
shots, and puts them in doubt of their proficiency in the 
science. I have known excellent shots at other objects, 
miss Snipe five or six times in succession, but it is gene- 
rally attributable to the common fault of shooting too 
soon. 
In rising from the ground, the Snipe springs to the height 
of five or six feet, and darts off in a zig-zag manner, at the 
commencement of which it utters a sound similar to the 
word scape , and after continuing in this way for a distance, 
perhaps, of twenty yards, directs a straight course, gradu- 
ally ascending, until it reaches a certain height in the air, 
when a few circuitous flights are performed, until another 
spot to settle is fixed upon; this determined, it gradually 
descends, and when near the earth, drops of a sudden in 
the grass. Owing to this habit of alighting, many unskilled 
persons are deceived, thinking it to be the effect of a mortal 
wound which causes the sudden stop, but on approaching 
the spot where it settles, to their amazement, find the bird 
will rise as freely as before. 
Our Snipe, although different in appearance from the 
<7acA;-Snipe of England, is similar to it in habit, especially 
in this manner of alighting on the ground, and the follow- 
ing anecdote, related by Thornhill, in his Shooting Direc- 
tory, may not be inappropriately inserted here, as tending 
to show the disappointment of many, when in pursuit of 
this game. He says, “ a most curious circumstance occur- 
red respecting a Jack-Snipe, that was sprung several times 
by a Mr. Molloy, formerly a quarter-master of the 64th 
regiment, while he was quartered at Geneva barracks, 
Ireland, is worth relating: He regularly, after his duty was 
done, or if he could possibly obtain leave for a day, used 
to equip himself for shooting, and always sprung this Jack- 
Snipe, at which he fired, and followed, and the bird used 
to pitch so close to him at times, that he was confident he 
had shot it, and used to run to take it up, when, to his 
great surprise, it would rise, and fly a little farther; he 
actually acknowledged he fired, one day, eighteen times 
at this bird, and, after shooting at it for the whole season, 
he happened to be crossing the bog it lay in, when he put 
it up, and exclaiming, “there’s my old friend,” threw his 
stick at it, and killed it on the spot; whenever after, any 
of his brother officers found a Jack-Snipe, they were 
always sure to say, ‘ 1 there goes Quartermaster Molloy .” 
The proper manner of hunting Snipe is with the wind, 
as they not only lie much closer for the sportsman, 
but having great aversion to the wind acting against tkeir 
feathers, will, immediately after rising, head the wind, 
and present a convenient cross shot, and should they be 
plentiful, it is most advisable to hunt them without dogs, 
as the sportsman can spring them himself with all conve- 
nience. It is also important to success, to reserve the 
fire until the irregularity of their flight is over, which 
rarely exceeds twenty yards, and this being point blank 
distance, will enable the shooter to kill his object, not only 
with greater certainty, but more satisfaction. 
At times, the Snipe are exceedingly shy, and difficult to 
approach, frequently springing up beyond the reach of your 
shot, and again so tranquil as not to fly until almost trod- 
den upon ; satisfactory reasons for this difference have never 
yet, to my knowledge, been presented, but which, I think, 
may be accounted for as follows. Snipe, like woodcock, 
feed more during the night than the day, but more espe- 
cially moonlight nights, on which occasions their wander- 
ings are more severe and fatiguing, consequently, it will 
the Snipe, by reason of fatigue and satisfied appetite, 
become more sluggish and inclined to be dormant. Again, 
the migration of these birds always takes place during the 
night season, gradually through the whole month of March, 
and the early part of April, commencing about twilight in 
the evening, and subsiding at the same period the next 
morning, and will perform a journey, at a moderate calcu- 
lation, of three or four hundred miles at one flight. Now, 
when the sportsman encounters these birds the day after 
their migratory flight, they are found to be very tenacious 
of their resting-place, and quit it reluctantly; nor is it diffi- 
cult to detect them, for whilst those Snipe which have 
remained for days and recruited strength, will rise at too 
great a distance for a successful shot, make their usual circu- 
lar flight, and depart for some more distant feeding ground, 
these will spring up only at your feet, fly a short distance, 
and drop again into the grass, and continue these short 
flights, until repeated persecution drives them completely 
off. These birds, after a long flight, will remain in rich 
feeding ground for a number of days, and until they have 
satisfied the cravings of hunger, or become sufficiently re- 
cruited to continue their migration, when, being disturbed 
during the day, will make their final move the succeeding 
night. In this way, sportsmen have often been disap- 
pointed, when resorting to Snipe ground, find few, or no 
birds, where, the day previous, they were in the greatest 
abundance. 
The Snipe are occasionally to be found in swampy thick- 
ets, but more generally in open meadows, with a soft 
bottom, and more or less covered slightly with water, this 
kind of ground abounds in the neighbourhood of Philadel- 
phia, but since the excavation of the Chesapeake and 
