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EARLY " DRUMMING " OF THE SNIPE AND ITS 

 SIGNIFICANCE. 



BY 



CAPTAIN H. LYNES, r.n., m.b.o.u. 



Snipe were " drumming " unusually early this year over 

 some of the South Hampshire marshes. The following 

 are some records of several observers (including myself) 

 who are well acquainted both with the localities and 

 the Snipe's habits : — 



The majority of well-known writers agree in giving the 

 normal period of " drumming " in the British Islands as 

 from early or mid-March to late summer ; and in regarding 

 the performance as a special feature of the breeding- 

 season. There are, however, a few authentic records of 

 Snipe " drumming " during the winter and even autumn 

 months, and a few writers suggest analogy between such 

 out-of-season performances and the winter-song of our 

 Thrushes, Robins, etc.* 



That out-of-season " drumming " does occasionally 

 occur no one who has seen the latter records will attempt 

 to deny, but I think that their scarcity is sufficient proof 

 that the performance is quite exceptional, and is sugges- 

 tive rather of the occasional pseudo-erotic evolutions 

 (such as carrying nesting-material, partial displays, etc.) 

 which certain species are occasionally observed to indulge 

 in during their non-breeding season, than to " winter- 

 song " which is carried out with great regularity by a 

 number of species in our Islands. 



* Vide Brit. Birds, IV., p. 341 ; V. p. 336; Stevenson's Birds of 

 Norfolk ; Kelsall <fe Munn, Birds of Hampshire and Isle of Wight ; and 

 others. 



