9° Common Snipe 



or two — then push it in a httle turtlier with a powerful kick of his 

 feet, as though there was something just out of his reach. 



He found food, I imagine, in these latter instances ; seized and 

 swallowed it without removing his bill from the mud in which it was 

 imbedded. At any rate, he never brought anything up to the surface 

 and ate it ; any food he obtained must have been ingested with his 

 bill buried deep in the mud. 



For quite ten minutes I watched him undisturbed, when 

 suddenly he stopped feeding, as he caught the distant sound of 

 " A's " steps returning from what had proved to be a useless errand. 



The Snipe drew himself up to his full height, appeared to listen 

 intently for a moment, and then hurriedly squatted, drawing in his 

 neck and beak, and making himself as small as possible. He seemed 

 to be actually resting on his breast on the mud, his legs drawn under 

 him. Thus he remained absolutely still and motionless as the steps 

 drew nearer, with no sign of life about him except his shining black 

 eye. 



When at last " A " had got within a few vards of me, the Snipe 

 suddenly sprang up, as though hred out of a catapult, and made off 

 with a nerve-shattering sceap, sceap. 



On another occasion (Sept. loth, 1892), this time about eleven 

 in the morning, I watched a Snipe on the edge of a splash near the 

 N.W. corner of the wall (Thorpe Mere). 



The bird was- not more than 60 yards away, and both " A " 

 and I spent a considerable time looking at him through a telescope. 



He was not engaged in feeding, but squatted right down, like 

 the bird I have just described, seemingly sitting on his breast. His 

 bill was tucked away in his scapular feathers, and to all outward 

 appearance he was fast asleep ; but any movements on our part 

 caused him to open the eye nearest to us. After satisfying himself 

 that all was well, and that we had no evil intentions, he would close 

 it again, and resume his slumbers ; but as " A " remarked, " he 

 did not sleep very sound." 



Snipe probably spend the greater part of the day in sleeping, 

 except, of course, in the breeding season ; but, as the above note 

 shows, they literally sleep with one eye open, so that it is almost 

 impossible to come upon them unawares. 



Their tactile sense, we have seen, is very highly developed ; 

 their sight must be very perfect ; so is their hearing. In one sense 

 alone do they appear deficient, that of smell. 



In the case of the Snipe which I watched feeding just after 

 daylight, I had a smouldering pipe in my mouth when the bird 

 dropped on to the mud close by, and, as I was afraid of disturbing 

 it, if I made the slightest movement, I kept the pipe in my mouth, 

 and let it go out there. 



A deer will scent a human being down wind miles away, but my 

 Snipe not only paid no attention to me, but disregarded as well the 

 strong and pungent smell of the tobacco I was smoking. The sense 



