SNIPE 137 



portions of this extensive area a considerable number of snipe are 

 resident, but those breeding farther north migrate southwards in 

 autumn, journeying to the Mediterranean countries and southern Asia, 

 inclusive of China and Formosa. In India snipe are met with in immense 

 numbers during the cold weather, arriving in the northern parts of the 

 peninsula in the latter part of September and October, and departing 

 again, as a rule, in March. There is, however, strong evidence that 

 a few occasionally remain to breed in the plains. November appears 

 to be the month in which migratory snipe from the north make 

 their appearance in the southern half of England ; those seen earlier 

 in the year on the moors being native-bred. Throughout the British 

 Islands these birds nest locally ; in the more northern parts frequently 

 at a considerable elevation. 



During an unusually cold winter the present writer once flushed 

 a snipe in broad da}'light among turnips in his own garden ; but 

 these birds are, as a rule, more or less nocturnal, and frequent marshy 

 ground, where they associate in " whisps," and feed mainly on worms, 

 obtained by thrusting their long sensitive beaks into the yielding soil. 

 In addition, their food comprises the larvae of water-insects, freshwater 

 crustaceans, and marsh-snails. Although they move about in the 

 early morning and again at evening, the\' spend the greater part of the 

 day skulking among the decaying stalks and other vegetation of their 

 haunts, often reposing on floating masses of this nature, but not on the 

 water itself. They will often lie close till almost trodden upon, but it 

 must be a sharp eye indeed that can detect a reposing snipe, even 

 though it be only a few feet distant. When flushed they fly rapidly and 

 strongly, uttering a peculiar kind of hissing whistle ; on the hot plains of 

 Bengal the flight is usually straight ; but in colder countries, especially 

 when a stiff breeze is blowing, the first portion consists of a series of 

 darts in directions at considerable angles to one another. In India 

 the members of a whisp, after being fired at, will frequently circle round 

 the marsh before settling so as to allow another shot. 



The "drumming" or "bleating" of snipe is a peculiar sound pro- 

 duced most frequently in the breeding-season, as they descend rapidly 

 in the air. One theory is that the noise is made by the puffs of air 

 produced by the wings striking against the tail-feathers, a second that 

 it is the result of the vibration of the outer tail-feathers alone, and a 

 third that it is due to the vibration of the primary quills of the wings. 

 According to a recent author it is due to the tail-feathers. As the 

 result of experiment, it was found that if the feathers were attached 

 to a cork in a special manner, the peculiar bleating sound could be 



