Habits and Habitat of Snipe. 195 



Apparently it is not long before the attrac- 

 tions of the place are exhausted, for soon they 

 will flit off one by one, invariably *' ptchaking " 

 as they spring on the wing, very often con- 

 tinuing their song until it dies away in the 

 distance. A snipe-frequented marsh is a per- 

 fect chorus of their cries at night. It has 

 been supposed that the scream, so familiar to 

 the sportsman, is a note of alarm ; but it is 

 the one emitted by the bird at all times, and a 

 very striking sound it is when heard ringing 

 through the dead silence of a lonely moor at 

 midnight. Since the two other notes that 

 constitute his rdpertoire are only used in the 

 breeding season, the sportsman may shoot 

 snipe year after year without ever hearing 

 them. 



Mention has been casually made above of 

 odd places in which snipe may occasionally 

 be found. These are so various that it is 

 scarcely too much to say that there is no 

 spot from which a snipe may not be flushed, 

 provided only that it is either moist itself 

 or somewhere near wet orround. Indeed, 



