9^ Snipe * drumming ' 



rise up in every direction and begin " sceaping " lustily : and, last 

 of all, you hear what you came out for, the whistling noise of Ducks' 

 wings as the first flock comes in from the sea. 



T do not know if the Snipe indulges in the same evolutions 

 again in the grey of the morning. I am inclined to think not, but 

 my opportunities for observation have been far fewer. 



In the morning, Ducks are flying from the marsh to the sea ; 

 and the nearer to the sea the shooter can post himself the better. 

 Consequently, we generally " flight " under the sea walls, and rather 

 off the main Snipe-ground. I do not remember ever hearing them 

 call unless they were disturbed, or seeing them perform a voluntary 

 aerial flight at day-break. 



When speaking of the " drumming " of the Snipe at the 

 beginning of this paper, I said that the sound was heard in the breed- 

 ing season, and then only. I gave as approximate dates for this 

 country, March 20th to beginning of July. That it is a sound 

 belonging to the breeding season, there can be no possible doubt ; 

 at the same time it is not strictly accurate to say that it is never 

 heard outside the dates I have given. 



I once heard a Woodcock utter its tremulous croak in some woods 

 in Aigyllshire on December 4th (i8gi), a cry which essentiallv belongs 

 to the season of courtship ; with that one exception, I never heard 

 the note except in the breeding season. Many birds confine their 

 song entirely to the breeding season, and, leaving their call or alarm 

 note out of consideration, are silent for the rest of the year. Yet, 

 on rare occasions one of these will burst into song at some unusual 

 time. 



And one may suppose that something — some recollection of 

 the days that are passed, and the promise of the spring to come — 

 forces the song out of him as it does in the nesting time. 



So it is with the Snipe. On rare, very rare occasions, the Snipe 

 mav " drum " out of the usual season. 



Stevenson,* quoting Mr. Blofeld of Hoveton as his authority, 

 states that this gentleman " once heard a snipe drumming in the 

 " depth of winter, and on drawing the attention of his marshman, 

 " William Hewitt, to what he considered a very strange occurrence, 

 " the old man assured him that he had remarked the same thing 

 " on several occasions." 



My own notes record two rather exceptional dates on \\hich I 

 heard Snipe " drumming." 



On August 1st (1891) on the Thorpe Fen, I heard a Snipe 

 continually " drumming " backwards and forwards over the marsh, 

 and often passing close to my head. The hour was about noon. 



I have never before nor since heard a Snipe " drum " 

 so late in the season ; but this instance can probably be readily 

 explained by the assumption of a very late nest — possibly the first 



* " Birds of Norfolk," 1870, ii., p. 316. 



