COMMON SNIPE. 305 
a curious variety, and the one before mentioned in 
Mr. Master’s collection, procured in the spring of the 
year. 
Messrs. Frederick and Perey Godman, in a commu- 
nication to the “Ibis” (1861, p. 87), state that of several 
nests found by them in 1857, in a marsh at Bod6,* in 
Norway, between the 24th and 27th of June (nearly a 
month after the arrival of the birds) the eggs, four in 
number, were deposited in a slight hollow scraped in the 
surrounding moss, usually “on the edge of a small 
hillock quite open,” and with neither grass nor leaves 
in them ; but in one instance, and one only, they found 
that the sitting bird persistently covered itself with 
mogs, as a protection, no doubt, against the prying eyes 
of the magpies and crows, as well as other dangerous 
bipeds. An instinctive act very similar to that of the 
woodcock before noticed, which, by way of concealment, 
endeavoured to bury itself in the leaves. 
SCOLOPAX GALLINAGO, Linnezus. 
COMMON SNIPE. 
When the veteran sportsman, whose experience dates 
back to the close of the last century, dilates on the 
snipe shooting exploits of his early days, by some, 
perhaps, the old man’s tale may be listened’ to merely 
with courteous incredulity; but those who have marked 
the marvellous changes effected within their own recol- 
lection by drainage and cultivation, will receive the 
* Mr. Alfred Newton informs me that in 1864, only seven years 
afterwards, he found this marsh had been completely drained, a 
striking instance of the destruction of the breeding places of 
various birds which is going on all over the world. 
28 
