Snipe ' drumming ' 97 



and second has been taken, for the Fen suffers ver}' severely from 

 eggers.* 



Tlie other occasion was more noteworthy, and the date was 

 February 28th (1893). I had just returned from a fowUng cruise 

 on the Aldborough river (Feb. 2nd to 27th). During tliat period, 

 I had " flight(xl " night after night on the saltings and sea-walls 

 of the ri\-er. I had seen and heard many Snipe on most nights as 

 the dusk deepened into dark ; they behaved as Snipe alwa\s do in 

 the winter, " sceaping " loudly for some twenty minutes while the 

 half-light lasted, but making no other noise of any kind. The last 

 night's " flighting," which I had on the river was on February 25th ; 

 I saw several Snipe, and they " sceaped " as usual, without making 

 other sound. 



My river trip ended on February 26th. On the 28tli, I walked 

 over to Scotts fiall (the northern extremity of the ground) in the 

 late afternoon, and reached the centre of the marshes at dusk. 

 Being anxious to see or hear what birds were about, I decided to 

 wait for the Duck flight. 



I saw six or eight pair of Snipe while standing in the position 

 I had selected — probably there were more that I could not see in 

 the insufficient light. Every one of these birds was drumming as 

 though April had come in, and calling the " jick-jack " note of 

 spring. 



During the time while I listened — and I did not leave the marsh 

 before 7 o'clock — I never heard a single " sceap, sceap." The}' 

 were still " drumming " and singing when I walked off the marsh, 

 and seemed like keeping it up till daylight. I should add, however, 

 that it was a very light night, with the moon nearly at the full. 



This is the earliest date on which I have myself heard birds 

 " drumming " ; it is especially noteworthy that all through this 

 month not one Snipe was heard "drumming" on the river, though 

 I was out practically every night. 



I believe these particular " drumming " Snipe were newly- 

 arrived migrants — the first of oiu" home-breeding birds to return to 

 their summer haunts after the winter's absence ; and that their 

 " drumming " and singing were the outward expression of their 



*The foIknviiiK additional notes Irom tield diaries were added after tlie icrture had been 

 delivered : — 



I'y.ij, -August 5th, i> am., Scotts Hall. Suffolk : — 



" A Snipe was ' drumming ' high up in the air (60 or 70 ft.) in the neighbourhood of the 

 Scotts Hall decoy . I had a shot, but failed to get him. This is the latest 'drumming ' 

 Snipe I have a note of." 



But on September 7th 1907, " sitting in the rushes at the top of the Thorpe Fen (3..V' pni.), while 

 two guns walked the Snipe, I heard anotlier ' drumming ' over Wentworth's Warren." 



And again in the same year — 



" October 2nd, ig07. — G. Norman Clgilvie shot a lull Snipe, ' drumming ' loudly at the 

 " time it was shot, when Partridge driving ; the ' drumming ' was heard bv most of the 

 "guns. This was at the ' Valley Drive' 'the Valley ■ reverse' in actual fact) on the Westleton 

 ■Walks, Scotts Hall." 



G 



