SNIPE 



Perhaps no truer citizen of the world exists than 

 the Common Snipe. In Greenland or the Canaries, 

 in Siberia or Japan, the familiar " scape-scape " 

 may be heard as the orange and brown-barred form 

 springs from reed-bed or water-course, and at once 

 becomes a mere speck in the distant sky. 



Seeing that the Snipe lives in all climates and 

 amidst the utmost variety of scene, it is perhaps 

 difficult to speak of its " haunt," yet I think that 

 for most naturalists or sportsmen the w^ord " snipe " 

 will bring to the mind's eye a single picture which 

 is felt instinctively to be that of the bird's true home 

 and habitat. 



On every hand the grey mountains rise, and the 

 little road winds through them like a tape thrown 

 loosely down on the heather. There is a reedy lake 

 away in the hills, and from this a slowly running 

 stream takes its course through the dead flat of the 

 valley. At one point the valley is wide as the lake 

 itself, now it narrows where the hills draw closer 

 together and becomes a valley of reeds; a green, 

 rush-grown flat dotted all over with white cotton 

 flags, and with " splashes " here and there which 

 catch the sun. 



This bog-land may be said to be the Snipe's true 

 home. Whether the British-born Snipe migrates 



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