UPLAND SHOOTING. 
177 
a while, the young broods are found on the ground in which 
they are bred. 
And there is scarcely any sort of ground, in which the soil 
consists of black vegetable mould, or rich loam of any kind, 
and in which there is a sufficiency of water, that is not conge¬ 
nial to him as a breeding place—I except always the depths of 
the primeval forests, in which he never is found. 
The narrowest ravines, down which the merest thread of wa¬ 
ter trickles among bare gray rocks, provided there is a bed of 
rich succulent soil in the bottom of the swale, even at the 
height of 800 feet above tide-water will hold a brood or two; 
so will the swampy bogs and morasses on the tops of the high¬ 
est hills; but the favorite breeding ground of the bird is un¬ 
doubtedly level marsh meadows, interspersed with clumps and 
thickets of willow and alder, maple groves, growing on swampy 
land, and warm sequestered vallies. 
In South-West Jersey, they are found in the greatest abun¬ 
dance on perfectly open meadows, among bog grass and rushes, 
in exactly what would usually be called admirable Snipe- 
ground ; and I have killed them in the neighborhood of Salem, 
in considerable numbers, where there was not a tree or bush 
within half a mile. This approximation of habits between the 
two kindred species, of Snipe and Woodcock, is very curious 
and interesting—the former bird, as we have seen above, under 
certain circumstances and in peculiar districts, betaking himself 
to the wooded haunts of his nearest blood relation, and the lat¬ 
ter, when in a treeless country, making himself at home among 
marshy levels better adapted to the general habits of his cousin. 
On no ground, however, have I ever seen, or shall I, I much 
fear, ever again see this bird in such multitudes, as on what are 
called the “ Drowned Lands ” in Orange county, N. Y. These 
are a vast tract of level country, surrounding the various branch¬ 
es and tributary streams of the Walkill—it extends many miles 
in length, and contains every sort of lying—tall open groves, 
impenetrable fastnesses of brake and thicket, wide reaches of 
perfectly open bog-meadow, and as wide expanses of open 
