This bird exhibits at times a manner of feeding which appeared to me singular, and which I repeatedly witnessed while at Grande Terre in Louisiana. While watching their manner of walking and wading along sand-bars and muddy flats, I saw that as long as the water was not deeper than the length of their bills, they probed the ground beneath them precisely in the manner of the American Snipe, _Scolopax Wilsoni_; but when the water reached their bodies, they immersed the head and a portion of the neck, and remained thus sufficiently long to satisfy me that, while in this position, they probed several spots before raising their head to breathe. On such grounds as are yet soft, although not covered with water, they bore holes as deep as the soil will admit, and this with surprising rapidity, occupying but a few moments in one spot, and probing as they advance. I have watched some dozens at this work for half an hour at a time, when I was completely concealed from their view. Godwits, which are also borers, probe the mud or moist earth often in an oblique direction, whilst the Woodcock, the Common Snipe, and the present species, thrust in their bills perpendicularly. The latter bird also seizes many sorts of insects, and at times small fry, as well as the seeds of plants that have dropped into the water. Dr RICHARDSON informs us that “individuals killed on the Saskatchewan plains had the crops filled with leeches and fragments of coleoptera.” The flight of this bird is rapid, strong, and remarkably well-sustained. When rising in large numbers, which they usually do simultaneously, they crowd together, are apt to launch upwards in the air for a while, and after performing several evolutions in contrary directions, glide towards the ground, and wend their way close to it, until finding a suitable place, they alight in a very compact body, and stand for a moment. Sometimes, as if alarmed, they recommence their meandering flight, and after a while return to the same spot, alighting in the same manner. Then is the time when the gunner may carry havoc amongst them; but in two or three minutes they separate and search for food, when you must either put them up to have a good shot, or wait the arrival of another flock at the same place, which often happens, for these birds seldom suffer any of their species to pass without sending them a note of invitation. It is not at all uncommon to shoot twenty or thirty of them at once. I have been present when 127 were killed by discharging three barrels, and have heard of many dozens having been procured at a shot. When wounded and brought to the water, they try in vain to dive, and on reaching the nearest part of the shore, they usually run a few steps and squat among the grass, when it becomes difficult to find them. Those which have escaped unhurt often remain looking upon their dead companions, sometimes waiting until shot at a second time. When they are fat, they afford good eating, but their