96 A Book of the Snipe, 



dragged than lifted forward, and never moved 

 at all until the foremost one has felt support 

 beneath it. This ** feeling " is the most in- 

 describable portion of the whole procedure. 



For the purpose of this description I have 

 made several experiments in analysing the 

 physical sensations which accompany a suc- 

 cessful walk over bad ground. I find that the 

 advancing foot is invariably strongly con- 

 tracted when about to touch earth, the toes 

 being drawn tightly downwards, in a most 

 uncomfortable posture if one had time to think 

 about it. On placing it flat and free upon the 

 ground, a feat of no small difficulty, so strong 

 was the instinct of contraction, I found that a 

 false step or a deepish sinking was the invari- 

 able result. Sometimes, of course, the ground 

 is too rotten to bear even the most momentary 

 contact of the foot, and then the bent knee 

 makes recovery possible before it is too late, 

 and this without any perceptible effort unless 

 the stride has been over long. 



Bogs are usually of three types : the muddy 

 holding kind, from which an effort to withdraw 



