154 -^ Book of the Snipe, 



spots, both after they had been untenanted 

 by day and when birds in profusion had 

 been flushed from them, and have without 

 exception found them snipeless. This is 

 almost certain proof of a lack of food- 

 supply, and such places will never be in- 

 habited except as dak -bungalows^ by the 

 belated travellers, who are either too weary 

 to look farther afield for better quarters, or 

 finding their arrival to coincide with the 

 approach of day, prefer to remain impranstts 

 but secure until returning night comes to 

 cover their foraging. In the first case they 

 lie close and well ; in the second, they are not 

 only nervous but are crouching all together, 

 listening for the faintest sound, and ready 

 to dash up in a frightened crowd when any- 

 thing — even a cow — moves in their vicinity. 



I once witnessed one of these sudden 

 appearances and departures of snipe, which 

 occurred late in December in a large rushy 

 field on the banks of the river Wey. Re- 



1 Rest-houses on the Indian roads, into which the traveller 

 overtaken by night turns for shelter. 



