396 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



Many pairs remain to breed in the most suitable 

 places, especially in Eomney Marsh (which must have 

 been in days gone by a perfect paradise for the Snipe), 

 where the nests and young have been found for the last 

 lew years. 



In 18J9 Mr. J. W. Hnlke, of Deal, in his observations 

 on the departures and arrivals of birds at Deal, states 

 that " these birds left in a body on the night of 

 March 16, though a few stragglers remained a few days 

 longer," and that " they arrived on October 21." 



Mr. W. H. Power says, in his Birds Observed at 

 Bainham : " A very early visitant in the autumn. This 

 season (1865) the first occurred on July 27, and my 

 brother once saw one as early as the 20th of the same 

 month. These early birds are, however, only stragglers, 

 the species not becoming at all common till the end of 

 September or beginning of October." No doubt the 

 above-mentioned birds had bred in those marshes. In 

 1868 Mr. F. D. Power writes : " Scarcely to be found 

 at all, on account of the dry state of the marsh ditches. 

 September and October are generally the best months 

 for them here, but I scarcely saw half a dozen during 

 the whole time, and I did not meet with a single Jack 

 Snipe in the Bainham Marshes." 



Dr. N. F. Ticehurst, writing to the Zoologist, 1897, 

 gives the following account of the breeding of the Snipe 

 in Bomney Marsh. He says: "Towards the end of 

 April, some three or four years ago, I flushed a Snipe in 

 Komney Marsh ; the question immediately occurred to 

 me. Does the Snipe breed here ? There are many very 

 suitable places, though none of large extent like there 

 are in the fens. Being well acquainted with the bird 

 during the nesting season in the fen country, I at once 



