THE TRUE SNIPES. 219 



expanded and visibly-vibrating wings, but with outspread tail, 

 uttering a sound which is technically called ' drumming.' The 

 sound is only heard when the bird is descending, but some 

 observers assert that they have heard it proceeding from a 

 Snipe on the ground, or perched on a dead branch. It has 

 been likened to the bleating of a Goat, and bears some re- 

 semblance to the suppressed gobble sometimes heard from 

 a Turkey. Great difference of opinion exists as to the means 

 by which this sound is produced. Bechstein and many sub- 

 sequent writers have argued that it proceeds from the throat. 

 Naumann, Macgillivray, Hancock, Saxby, Jardine, Blyth, and 

 others have maintained that it is caused by the rapid vibration 

 of the wings. Altum, Meves, and most modern ornithologists 

 find the musical note in the rush of air through the stiff feathers 

 of the outspread tail. I have listened to the drumming of the 

 Snipe scores of times with the express purpose of discovering 

 the mode in which the sound is produced, and must confess 

 myself completely puzzled. Arguing from analogy (a very 

 dangerous proceeding, by the way, in ornithology), I should 

 say it was produced by the vocal organs, and is analogous to 

 the trill of the Stints and other Sandpipers. The fact that it 

 appears to begin the instant the bird begins to descend in- 

 clines me to think that, after allowance is made for the 

 time it takes for sound to travel, it must really begin before 

 the descent, whilst the bird is not moving very rapidly." 



Nest. — This is generally placed in a clump of rushes or 

 sedge, in which is formed the shallow depression lined with 

 dead grass. 



Eggs. — Four in number, laid between the middle of April 

 and the middle of May, but in the high north not before 

 June. Occasionally, they have been found in March. Mr. 

 Robert Read writes to me that he has himself found the nest 

 in the latter month in Northumberland, and that on the bare 

 ground, in an exposed site, swept over by every wind that blew. 

 The ground-colour varies from a brownish-clay colour to a 

 pale stone-grey, but in nearly every instance a shade of olive 

 is apparent. The spots are a mixture of reddish-brown, black, 

 and purplish-grey, the latter being the underlying ones. In 

 some eggs the spots are small, and are distributed over the 



