Snooping for Snipes: America's Favorite Wild Goose Chase

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David Chinery

Abstract

The common snipe, Capellagallinago, is a medium-sized brown and white bird living near streams, woods and tidal marshes throughout the entire United States. The snipe is also part of a joke or jest which requires that its participants go ona "Snipe Hunt" where they generally embarrass themselves and are laughed at by the people engineering the joke. Exactly how the bird became connected with the joke is unclear. This paper examines some variations of the snipe hunt custom and possible reasons for its enactment.

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