BIRDS AND ALL NATURE. 
Illustrated by GOLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 
Vol. IV. 
JULY, 1898. 
No. 1. 
WILSON'S SNIPE. 
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ILSON'S SNIPE, other- 
wise known as the 
English Snipe, Jacksnipe, 
and Guttersnipe, and 
which is one of our best known game 
birds, has a very extended range ; 
indeed, covering the whole of North 
America, and migrating south in the 
winter to the West Indies and northern 
South America. Its long, compressed, 
flattened, and slightly expanded bill 
gives it an odd appearance, and renders 
it easily recognizable. From March 
till September the peculiar and cheer- 
ful " cheep " of the Snipe may be heard 
in the larger city parks where there 
are small lakes and open moist grounds, 
and where it can feed and probe with 
its long, soft, sensitive, pointed bill in 
the thin mud and soft earth for worms, 
larvae, and the tender roots of plants. 
In some localities in the Southern 
states, during the winter months, 
thousands of Snipe are killed on the 
marshes where they collect on some 
especially good feeding ground. We 
have rarely seen more than two 
together, as they are not social, mov- 
ing about either alone or in pairs. Its 
movements on the ground are graceful 
and easy, and, while feeding, the tail 
is carried partly erect, the head down- 
ward, the bill barely clearing the 
ground. We recently watched one 
through an opera glass, but the fre- 
quency of its changes from point to 
point and the rapidity of its flight dis- 
couraged long observation. The 
flight is swift, and, at the start, in a 
zigzag manner. Sportsmen say it is a 
most difficult bird to shoot, requiring 
a quick eye and a snap shot to bag 
four out of five. Col. Goss said that 
he always had the best success when 
the birds were suddenly flushed, in 
shooting the instant its startled "scaipe" 
reached his ear, " as it is invariably 
heard the moment the bird is fairly in 
the air." 
It is entertaining to watch the 
courtship of these birds, " as the male 
struts with drooping wings and wide 
spread tail around his mate in the 
most captivating manner, often at such 
times rising spiral-like with quickly 
beating wings high in the air, drop- 
ping back in a wavy, graceful circle, 
uttering at the same time his jar- 
ring, cackling love note, which, with 
the vibration of the wings upon the 
air, makes a rather pleasing sound. 
The snipe's nest is usually placed 
on or under a tuft of grass, and is a 
mere depression, scantily lined with 
bits of old grass and leaves. The 
eggs are three or four, greyish olive, 
with more or less of a brownish shade, 
spotted and blotched chiefly about the 
larger end with, varying shades of 
umber brown. 
If you want to identify Wilson's 
Snipe, have with you a copy of this 
number of Birds and all Nature as 
you stroll along shore or beach. Our 
picture is his very image. 
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