MASS. (Middlessex Co.) [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
Snipe Shooting
1874 Oct. 5- 1874-
  Oct. 5 [October 5, 1874] Clear with a bracing N. [north] wind. Rose At
5.30 and getting a light breakfast I
met Nesbitt by appointment at his
house and started for the swamps
he taking Belle & I shot. In the
brickyard and swamp he flushed a snipe
& I killed a solitary sandpiper and two
rails.  One of the latter was sitting in 
bush two feet or more above the water
enjoying the morning sun: as I fired
at him another ran quickly across a 
little channel & from the momentary
glympse that I had of it I was quite
positive that it was P. noveboracensis [Porzana noveboracensis]:
here I also saw a wood duck which
rose at the report of the gun. Our
attention was now attracted to the
big meadows by repeated firing in 
that direction & approaching them 
from the Artificial side we found
them occupied as on Saturday with
a mob of pot hunters armed with
long muskets etc. who were putting up 
the birds in all directions. However by
marking down their birds into adjacent
meadows we soon began to get some
sport and moreover in a short time
most of them began to leave & we had
the whole ground to ourselves. By 12
the birds became so badly scattered that
we gave them up and started for home.
My bag was, snipe 16, grass bird 1, sol. sandp [solitary sandpiper] 1, rail 3,
Nesbitt had 5 Snipe, (2 were drawn birds which I count
in both bags). Shot behaved admirably &
made several fine points. The snipe