Snipe. 3 1 



weight of a pheasant hovering high in the 

 heavens. As to the sound itself, only recent 

 years have rendered a simile possible. 

 Nothing resembles so nearly the love-song 

 of the snipe as the vibrant hum of a motor- 

 car travelling smoothly and at speed along 

 the road! And as to the cause, it has been 

 ascertained almost beyond a doubt that the 

 noise is simply that made by the wind rushing 

 swiftly upwards between the stiffer feathers 

 of the wings as the bird lets itself drop head 

 foremost through space, its pinions half con- 

 tracted, so that the under portion is arched 

 into a kind of sounding-board and made to 

 shiver rapidly. Whether this tremulousness 

 is the result of muscular action or of the rapid 

 upward draught of the air must remain in- 

 soluble until Mr Maxim has enabled the 

 ornithologist to include a flying machine, on 

 which to accompany the snipe during his 

 operatic performance, amongst his ordinary 

 paraphernalia. It is undoubtedly the vibra- 

 tion of these feathers, as they cut slant- 

 wise down through the resisting air, which 



