NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 279 



peat, or sand occur ; and the marshy margins of rivers 

 and lakes, where tall rank grass-tufts, sedges, and other 

 aquatic vegetation occur. As soon as pairing is com- 

 pleted, the birds scatter over such districts to breed. 

 The nest is either made amongst the long coarse grass, 

 or in the centre of a tuft of rush or sedge, and is a 

 mere hollow lined with dry grass or a little moss. The 

 bird sits closely, and usually flies right away when 

 flushed from the nest. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Great Snipe are four in number. They 

 are pyriform, smooth in texture, and vary in ground 

 colour from olive and grayish-bufl" to brownish-buff, 

 spotted and blotched with rich dark brown and pale 

 brown, and with underlying markings of lilac-brown 

 and gray. The eggs are exceedingly handsome ones. 

 Most of the blotches are obliquely distributed, and on 

 many eggs net-like masses of dark-brown streaks occur 

 on the larger end. Most of the larger blotches, some of 

 them confluent, are on the major half of the ^gg, and 

 the underlying markings are generally large and con- 

 spicuous. Average measurement, i'8 inch in length, by 

 1*25 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed chiefly if 

 not entirely by the female, lasts seventeen or eighteen 

 days. 



Diagnostic characters: Their large size and 

 handsome and oblique character of the markings, readily 

 distinguish the eggs of this Snipe from those of every 

 other British species. 



