80 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



downward flight the snipe's strange humming note is heard, synchronizing pre- 

 cisely with the vibration of the tips of its wings. The bill is closed when the 

 note is being emitted. The bird's great circular flight is thus made up of two 

 subordinate flights — the plain flight and the humming flight — in regular succes- 

 sion. After having described three or four great circles, the snipe reverses its 

 course and proceeds in the opposite direction ; but it is to be observed that in 

 its " humming " flight it still works always on its " outer edge," the wing 

 outside the great circle being invariably the one to be depressed and the one 

 upon which the bird turns in performing the tangential, outward curving, 

 downward flight. The sound made by the snipe may be nearly imitated by 

 laughing in the throat with the lips closed, and associates itself in my mind 

 with that made by the puffin when returning laden with fish to his burrow. 

 It is like hollow, mirthless laughter ; the expression of a wild earnest joy by 

 sounds which to human ears seem mournful rather than joyous, and therefore 

 unnatural, uncanny, weird. The snipe has another amusing trick in flight ; he 

 will suddenly jerk himself to one side, throw his wings halfway back, and 

 allow himself to fall like a lopsided shuttlecock, until, as suddenly recovering 

 himself, he sets off again on his circular career. 



Seton Gordon (1915) gives the following good description of the 

 snipe's tail, by which the sound is probably made : 



The tail feathers of the snipe are of so peculiar formation that it may be 

 well to give here a description of them : In the first outer tail feather the 

 shaft is exceptionally stiff and shaped like a saber. The rays of the web are 

 strongly bound together and are very long — the longest, in fact, reaching nearly 

 three-quarters of the whole length of the web. The rays lie along the shaft 

 of the feather like the strings of a musical instrument. Other species of snipe 

 possess four drumming feathers, and one species has no fewer than eight. 

 The drumming feathers of the hen snipe are not as strong as those of the male. 



Eggs. — The European snipe normally lays four eggs, rarely five. 

 These are indistinguishable from eggs of our Wilson snipe. The 

 measurements of 100 eggs, furnished by Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, 

 averaged 39.4 by 28.7 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 42.7 by 29, 39.3 by 30.3, 35 by 28.4 and 36.3 by 26.7 milli- 

 meters. 



Young. — The period of incubation is about 20 days. Several ob- 

 servers have reported seeing the snipe carry off her young between 

 her legs, as the woodcock is known to do. 



Mr. Gordon (1915) writes: 



Although eminent authorities have stated that a snipe with a brood by her 

 feigns lameness to distract attention, I have never found this to be the case, 

 the bird invariably flying off as she does when sitting on her eggs. 



One warm July day I witnessed a very charming spectacle in a field bordering 

 on a wide expanse of moorland. A kindred ornithologist and myself were 

 seated at the edge of a wall overlooking the field when he became aware that 

 a snipe was standing fearlessly in the long herbage a few yards from us. 

 As we watched her, the bird came forward, and disappeared among some 

 rushes bordering the wall. For the space of a minute or so she remained 

 hidden, and we thought she had gone there to shelter, but presently she 

 emerged from her obscurity, and following her closely were two small chicks. 

 By comparison with the green grass these little people appeared almost black, 



