410 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
quantity of Snipe in the peat-marsh between High- 
bridge and Wells, after some heavy rain, in July; 
and the Taunton paper for the 2nd of September, 
1868, mentions Snipes having been shot in Curry 
Moor by that time. These birds also remain to 
breed in most of the other counties of England, and 
in both of the neighbouring counties of Dorset and 
Devon. 
Many persons have noticed the peculiar drumming 
or bleating sound made by the Snipe in the breeding 
season: this as well as the action of the bird while 
making the sound are very well described by Dr. 
Saxby, in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1867 (p. 537), and as 
perhaps it is not very generally known, and oppor- 
tunities of observing the bird during the breeding 
season are not very frequent in our county, I may 
quote what he says on the subject :— “ Several 
Snipes were wheeling about in the air at a great 
height, and I sat down to watch them as they 
circled in all directions, now high, now low, but 
each one evidently preferring to keep above its own 
particular portion of ground, where, judging from 
former experience, I felt sure the nest must be. 
After a considerable height had been attained a 
sudden descent followed, during which the bleating 
was heard and the wings were left rigidly extended, 
or perhaps vibrating in a manner so slight as to be 
imperceptible: this lasted for three or four seconds ; 
then the birds rose for about eight seconds, when 
