COMMON SNIPE. 309 



to the season. The same author also states from his 

 own observations in former days, that *' a very small 

 number, comparatively speaMng, are bred in the Norfolk 

 Fens," and such, no doubt v^as always the case, inas- 

 much as the snipe, like the dunlin, curlew, and other 

 marsh and shore-birds, seems to resort, as in Scotland, 

 to elevated situations for breeding purposes ;'* even 

 though some may annually remain in the drier por- 

 tions of their winter quarters. At present they are 

 found breeding throughout both the "Fen" and the 

 " Broad " districts, but their numbers depend much 

 upon the weather, being most abundant, according 

 to my own observations, after a cold spring, with 

 a prevalence of north-easterly gales, at the period 

 of their vernal migration. At such times they arrive 

 here later than usual, and if unable for some days 

 to continue their passage, the urgent necessities of 

 parental duties oblige them to seek in our marshes 

 a retreat for their expected offspring. This was par- 

 ticularly the case in 1860, when a heavy fall of snow 

 occurred as late as the 22nd of April, and then an 

 unusually large number of snipes remained with us to 

 breed. It not unfrequently happens, however, that 

 just after their first eggs have been laid and the old 

 birds have commenced sitting, a considerable rainfall, 

 or an extraordinary high tide on the coast, so floods 

 the marshes that both nests and eggs are destroyed, 

 whilst the snipes, thus driven from their adopted home, 

 leave us altogether, and the prospects of a good breeding 

 season are entirely changed. Of course by far the largest 

 number are bred on the broads and marshes bordering 



* In the Hebrides, Macgillivray states that their nests are 

 found in various situations; often in the grassy pastures, but 

 more frequently on the unfrequented moors, from the level of the 

 lakes to the height of two thousand feet. 



