SNIPE. 
221 
Snipe, to distinguish it from the Woodcock, and from several 
others of the same genus. It arrives in Pennsylvania about 
the 10th of March, and remains in the low grounds for several 
weeks ; the greater part then move olf to the north, and to the 
higher inland districts, to breed. A few are occasionally found, 
and, consequently, breed, in our low marshes, during the 
summer. When they first arrive, they are usually lean ; but, 
when in good order, are accounted excellent eating. They 
are perhaps the most difficult to shoot of all our birds, as they 
fly in sudden zigzag lines, and very rapidly. Great numbers 
of these birds winter on the rice grounds of the southern 
states, where, in the month of February, they appeared to be 
much tamer than they are usually here, as I frequently 
observed them running about among the springs and watery 
thickets. I was told by the inhabitants that they generally 
disappeared early in the spring. On the 20th of March, I 
found these birds extremely numerous on the borders of the 
ponds near Louisville, Kentucky, and also in the neighbour- 
hood of Lexington, in the same state, as late as the 10th of 
April. I was told by several people that they are abundant 
in the Illinois country, up as far as Lake Michigan. They are 
perform a regular distant migration. Such is the case with the S. gallinula of 
Europe. The American species is a winter visitant in the northern states, 
and will most probably breed farther to the south, without leaving the 
country. In India, the Snipes move according to the supply of water in the 
tanks, and at the season when they are comparatively dry, leave that district 
entirely. In this country, although many breed in the mosses, we have a large 
accession of numbers about the middle of September, both from the wilder 
high grounds, and from the continent of Europe ; and these, according to the 
weather, change their stations during the whole winter. Their movements 
are commenced generally about twilight, when they fly high, surveying the 
country as they pass, and, one day, may be found in abundance on the highest 
moorland ranges, while, the next, they have removed to some low and sheltered 
glade or marsh. In this we have a curious instance of that instinctive 
knowledge which causes so simultaneous a change of station in a single night. 
By close observation, during the winter months it may be regularly perceived 
sometimes even daily, and some change certainly takes place before and after 
any sudden variation of weather. — Ed. 
