Common Snipe 9^ 



of smell as we understand it — as it is found in the dog, in deer, or 

 manv other animals — appears to be wanting in birds. 



Geese, the hardest of all fowl to get on terms with, can be stalked 

 as easih' chncn as up wind ; except that an\' noise you make is more 

 easily conveyed down wind. 



If they hear you, or if they see you, they are off in a moment, 

 but I belie\n^ you might fry a mess of onions within ten yards of 

 them, provided the}- did not heai' the onions spitting in the pan. 



It is commonly said in books that the Snipe is a resident species 

 in the British Islands, the number being largelv increased in winter 

 by alien immigrants. This statement is more than doubtful. It 

 is true that Snipe are always with us at anv season of the year. 

 If that is what is meant by " resident," then it may be accepted. 



But if by " resident " the authors mean that birds that breed 

 here stop throughout the winter, then I am in entire disagreement 

 with them. 



Man\- branches of ornithology are as yet imperfectly understood, 

 foremost among them being migration. Excellent work has been 

 done in the last decade, but many more facts are required before we 

 can hope to understand the rules which govern the actions of the 

 migrating birds. 



It is more facts we want, and less theorw Here is one quotation 

 from a well-known writer, brimful of unsubstantiated theory, and 

 not in the least in accord with facts, so far as our evidence goes. 



" The rule," he says, " amongst regular migrants is unques- 

 " tionably that wherever the breeding-range overlaps the winter- 

 " range, the birds in the overlapping districts are residents : those 

 " breeding further north only passing through the intervening 

 " district on migration to winter further South." 



Such facts as we have are in direct contradiction of this 

 so-called " rule.'-' 



Take the Woodcock for example. In 1S71, Mr. Monk of Lewis, 

 carefully collected statistics of the number of Woodcock breeding 

 in Sussex, and satisfied himself, after a most searching inquiry, 

 that not less than 150 nests might be found in any average season 

 in the eastern division of that county alone. 



One hundred and fifty nests would represent 300 old birds, and 

 Goo young birds, if accidents of all kinds were avoided, making a 

 grand total of 900 Woodcock. Take 30 per cent, off for disaster 

 of one sort and another, and we still have 630 left — say, in round 

 figures, 600 birds in one part of the county alone during the early 

 summer. 



Where then are those 600 birds when the shooting season opens ? 

 In Sussex, a great many of the small coverts and shaws are shot in 

 the first half of October, from the ist onwards, and yet a " Cock " 

 is hardly ever seen then, though they become plentiful again as 

 November comes in. 



What is the explanation of these facts ? It seems clear enough. 



