374 SCOLOPAX GALLINAGO. 



the margins of these pools, and even frequently wading a 

 little way into the shallow water. Early in the morning 

 they may be obtained in such situations in great abundance ; 

 but after a few shots have been fired, they generally fly off 

 singly or in small parties to a great distance. 



In winter, especially during frost, they often betake 

 themselves in great numbers to marshy places on the coast 

 liable to be overflowed by the tide. During snow they 

 resort to the unfrozen rills, brooks, ditches, and the sides of 

 rivers, as well as to the sea-shore. On a bank from which a 

 number of springs oozed, in the island of Harris, I have, in 

 the time of long-continued snow, seen several hundreds of 

 them crowded together in search of a precarious morsel of 

 food. So intent were the famished birds on their search, 

 that when a shot was fired very few of them flew off, and 

 the spot on which they were was presently occupied by 

 others which unexpectedly arrived. Even in these northern 

 parts, I think the number of Snipes is not much diminished 

 in winter. On the other hand, it is vastly increased at that 

 season in most parts of England ; but whether that increase 

 arises from the immigration of individuals from the conti- 

 nent, or merely from the descent of our resident birds from 

 the central and northern moors, is not apparent. That they 

 leave many of our moors in winter I am well assured, for at 

 that season I have traversed places that abounded with 

 them in summer without meeting with any. 



At all times the Snipe is sly and suspicious ; but, instead 

 of flying off when under apprehension of danger, it lies close 

 to the ground, draws in its neck, and inclines its bill down- 

 wards, expecting to escape notice ; and one may come within 

 a few feet of it before it rises, for on such occasions it is 

 almost impossible to perceive it. On rising, it invariably 

 utters a shrill lisping cry of two sharp notes, flies low or 

 obliquely upwards, with a zigzag motion, for about eighty or 

 a hundred yards, and then assumes a more direct flight. 

 Although this undulating motion continues so long, the 

 deviation to either side is not so great as to render it very 

 difficult to shoot it, when one has become accustomed to this 

 kind of sport. The ordinary flight of this bird is rapid and 



