THE SNIPE 165 



volant or " Flying Goat," while in Germany the name of 

 Himmelsgeiss has been given it. The Snipe is an early 

 nester, and many of the hens are brooding before the end 

 of April. The nesting site is usually near water or boggy 

 ground, and the nest, if such it can be called, is placed 

 under the shelter of a tussock of grass. Sometimes a 

 dry knoll rising out of a bog is given the custody of the 

 eggs. These are four in number, and are very large for 

 the size of the bird. In their ground colour they vary 

 from olive green to brown, and over this ground colour 

 bold markings of dark brown are spread, the markings 

 being, usually, more numerous toward the larger end of 

 the egg. 



Incubation lasts little over a fortnight. When dis- 

 turbed from her nest — this, by the way, is merely a depres- 

 sion lined, perhaps, with a few pieces of grass — the Snipe's 

 behaviour differs greatly from that of the Dunlin under 

 similar circumstances. A close sitter, the female Snipe 

 will sometimes almost allow herself to be trodden upon 

 before rising from her eggs, but when she does leave the 

 nest she jumps up with a hoarse shriek and flies out of 

 sight at her greatest speed, never venturing near the 

 spot until all danger is past. Some young Snipe see 

 the light early in May, and as late as the closing days 

 of August I have seen a young bird not fully matured, so 

 it appears probable that, like the Woodcock, the Snipe 

 at times rears a couple of broods in the course of a season. 



One warm July day I witnessed a very charming 

 spectacle in a field bordering on a wide expanse of moor- 

 land. A kindred ornithologist and myself were seated at 

 the edge of a wall overlooking the field when we 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 



