86 Common Snipe 



of the adult is considerably more than twice the length of the 

 head. {Chick— Head, i inf; bill, | in ; Adnlt—He.Tid, Yin. ; bill. 

 -g- in.) The colour of the nestling down is almost perfectly protective 

 among the dead brown ancl decaying herbage where the}' 

 nestle. They can run as soon as they are out of the shell — or, 

 perhaps I should say, stagger unsteadily on their legs ; they cannot 

 run like a gallinaceous chick, and seek safety, when danger threatens, 

 b}' squatting silent and motionless on the rush-strewn ground. 



One other .small point in the economy of the Snipe ; the adult 

 bird on the nest is jMotectively coloured ; so are the eggs, and so 

 are the nestlings ; but there is a moment when protection fails, 

 and that is when the eggs are hatching. 



I have often watched a nest of Snipe eggs hatching, and have 

 wondered at the length of time that nature forces the chick to spend 

 in the shell after the eggs are fairly sprung. I do not think that 

 they ever chip their way out under 24 hours— it often takes them 

 36 hours — and, in exceptional cases, I have known a chick over 48 

 hours in clearing the shell. What the object of the long and exhaust- 

 ing delay may be I do not know ; possibh' it ma}' be of service in 

 hardening the chick off before he steps out into the world. 



In a matter of this kind, it is not fair to take a mechanical 

 incubator as a guide ; the artificial surroundings may easily result 

 in the development of a chick less robust than one hatched by 

 natural means, and, therefore, physicalh' less tit to hammer his wav 

 out of the calcareous envelope. But an incubator does show the 

 prolonged retention in the shell very markedly. 



Speaking of natural incubation only, one finds this delay is 

 very common with many of the Plover-like birds. 



It is certain, I think, that the parents offer no assistance to the 

 still-unhatched chicks. In the case of most of the Limicoline 

 birds, the shape and structure of their bills render it impossible 

 that they could be used with any success for enlarging the opening 

 in the egg shell. Take, for example, the long, soft, flexible bill of 

 the Snipe, or the still longer, curved bill of the Curlew. 



Even a game bird, like the Partridge, which has a bill constructed 

 on reasonably convenient lines for chipping purposes, never, as far 

 as I know, uses it to help the chick out. If the chick cannot cut its 

 way out, it must die ; that seems to be the rule. 



The embryos, however — this is true of all birds — are furnished 

 with a special instrument for effecting their release from the egg 

 shell, the so-called " egg-tooth." This " egg-tooth " consists of a 

 pointed, whitish protuberance at the tip of the upper bill, formed 

 of calcareous salts deposited between the layers of the skin. This 

 is cast off after hatching, leaving no sign of its former presence. 



I imagine that, in many cases, where the shell is unusually 

 thick and hard, the " egg-tooth " is lost before the shell is efficiently 

 opened, and the chick is then deprived of the chief instrument for 

 secui'ing its release. 



