6o BIRD WATCHING 



rendered them unable to fly, so that the murderous 

 or thievish longings of " the paragon of animals " 

 being diverted from their progeny to themselves, the 

 former may take thought and escape. The nightjar, 

 partridge, and, especially, the vv^ild-duck, are good 

 instances of this, and in every case where I have 

 come upon them under the requisite conditions they 

 have never failed to show me their shrewd estimate 

 of man's nature. With all these three birds, however, 

 it has always been the presence of the young that 

 has moved them to act in this manner, their conduct 

 during incubation being quite different. The instance 

 which I am now going to bring forward with regard 

 to the snipe has this peculiarity, if it be one, that 

 the bird was hatching her eggs at the time and was 

 still engaged in doing so a few days afterwards, 

 proving that the young were not just on the point 

 of coming out on the occasion when she was first 

 disturbed. As I noted all down the instant after its 

 occurrence, the reader may rely upon having here 

 just exactly what this snipe did. 



" This morning a snipe flew out of some long reedy 

 grass within a few feet of me, and almost instantly 

 taking the ground again — but now on the smooth, 

 green meadow — spun round over it, now here, now 

 there, its long bill lying along the ground as though it 

 were the pivot on which it turned, and uttering loud 

 cries all the while. Having done this for a minute 

 or so, it lay, or rather crouched, quite still on the 

 ground, its head and beak lying along it, its neck 

 outstretched, its legs bent under it, with the body 

 rising gradually, till the posterior part, with the tail, 

 which it kept fanned out, was right in the air. And 



