Conimon Snipe 93 



us tlirougli suinniiT and winter, admit that he is seldom seen in 

 August and September ; but he is then in full moult, they say, and 

 lying in the closest retirement in tlie most remote patches of bracken 

 or other cover. 



Idisagree with this view for man\- n-asons which I need not enter 

 into now ; but it can hardly be applied to the Snipe. For, whether 

 they have moulted, or whether they are in moult, the marshes remain 

 their onl\' possible home. The food is there, and the cover is there. 

 They cannot be supposed to retire to some silent fastness, some 

 inaccessible haunt where the footsteps of man are never heard ; 

 for, to be plain, such spots do not e.xist in the rich agricultural 

 counties of East Anglia 



However much Snipe may wisli for concealment, and howe\-er 

 closely the\' mav lie. if tliey are on the marshes at all, the\' can be 

 found, moulting or otherwise. 



That is merely a matter of time, attention and the assistance of 

 sufficiently good men and dogs. On this i,ooo acres of marshland, 

 1 would guarantee to put up 75 per cent, to 80 per cent, of the total 

 number of birds t)n the ground, on any day in the year, if I had 

 twelve hours' daylight to work by. 



As a matter of fact, I have for manv years spent much time on 

 these marshes, and tramped them thoroughly during August and 

 September. The conclusion reached has always been the same ; 

 Snipe are verv plentiful in Juh', scarce in August, while in September 

 the numbers are reduced almost to vanishing point. 



It is certain that the great bulk of birds, at any rate with us, 

 breed, rear their families and then leave. From all the infor- 

 mation I have been able to obtain from neighbouring grounds, 

 the same statement holds good. 



The particular .Snipe that breed with us are at the e.xtremitv of 

 their Nortliern limit, and leisureh' pass South at the conclusion of 

 the breeding season, with their families ; just as the Snipe breeding 

 in Scandinavia gradually work their way to our shores and winter 

 there, unless driven further South by stress of weather. Our bird 

 migrates no more and no less, in my opinion, than the more northerly 

 breeding Snipe. 



If we must have " rules," then I would sav that our Snipe do 

 certainly and regularly migrate. 



Like all rules, it has its exceptions, and, no doubt, from one 

 cause or another, e.g., late-hatched birds, delayed moulting, weakness 

 or injury, a minority do not leave our shores at the same time as the 

 main body, possibly do not leave at all. 



But these are a mere fraction of the birds bred in this country, 

 and in no way controvert the general question of migration. 



Regarding the Snipe of late autumn and winter — the sportsman's 

 Snipe — I have not much to sav of general interest. They pass out 

 of the naturalist's diary and into the game-book. 



If one writes of them now, it is rather to record " bags " that 



