92 A Book of the Snipe. 



I think it is pretty certain that a snipe 

 not killed outright, yet in extremis, always 

 looks out for a secure hiding-place in which 

 to drop, even though it may die before reach- 

 ing the ground, a fact that may account for 

 the wonderful concealment of many dead 

 birds. I can only say that I have witnessed 

 birds falling with a bump, perfectly dead, 

 into the only patch of cover available for 

 a long distance, too often for the circum- 

 stance to be merely the result of chance. 

 In the case of a mortally wounded bird top- 

 ping a bank on the other side of which lies a 

 bare field, it is extremely probable that, after 

 a hasty glance and a short flight over the 

 unfriendly ground, the dying creature, seeing 

 no cover ahead within reach of its failing 

 strength, turns back and gains the ditch or 

 growth below the sportsman's line of sight. 

 I cannot say that I have ever actually observed 

 this in the case of a snipe afterwards picked 

 up dead, but with slightly wounded birds the 

 manoeuvre is so common that it is evidently an 

 instinct, and one not noticeable in any other 



