138 
FRANK FORESTER^ FIELD SPORTS. 
Nova Scotia they may perhaps be regarded as a summer resident, 
though I am persuaded that their numbers, even there, in the 
spring and autumn, will be found vastly to exceed the tale of 
those which remain and rear their young. Throughout the 
Southern and Western country they are, on the contrary, winter 
residents. 
Now the shooting of these birds in spring, as they are either 
pairing here preparatory to breeding, or moving northward pre¬ 
paratory to pairing, or even actually breeding—as is the case 
when they are shot in May—is precisely what it would be to 
shoot Woodcock in February, March, and April, or Quail so late 
as to the middle of May ; the destruction of the breeders, and con¬ 
sequent diminution of the number of the next year’s young, being 
the same in both cases. The American Snipe lays four eggs; 
the death, therefore, of every Snipe during spring shooting is 
equivalent to the death of five of these beautiful and sporting 
little birds. 
This, one would suppose, would be conclusive against the 
practice; but if he venture to break ground in favor of the abo¬ 
lition by law of this unfair, and I must think, unsportsmanlike 
practice, he is met and silenced by some such exquisite reason as 
this—that if spring Snipe-shooting were prohibited, we should 
have no spring shooting at all; and the same exquisite reason is 
adduced against the only step which can save the Woodcock 
from extermination, I mean the abolition of summer cock¬ 
shooting. 
To return, however, to spring Snipe-shooting, as it is. 
So soon as the spring is fairly broken, and the frost—to use 
a common phrase—entirely out of the ground, the Snipe 
begins to appear upon our meadows. This breaking of the 
spring, and disappearance of the subterranean frost is, as is well 
known, very uncertain as regards the time of its occurrence. 
Sometimes, particularly when the winter has been continuous and 
severe, spring comes upon us suddenly and remains permanent— 
with no cold squalls and nipping frosts intermediate—increasing 
still into perfect summer. At other times, most frequently when 
