198 A Book of the Snipe. 



ham on November 24, 1898, when the bird 

 rose from the edge of a path traversing a 

 market-garden. I am positive, without being 

 able to prove it, that I saw a snipe fly across 

 the crowded road which leads from Hammer- 

 smith Bridge to Barnes Common, in January 

 of this very year, 1904. Observant persons 

 being in a minority, no doubt many instances 

 have never been reported, — indeed it is pro- 

 bable that the proportion of Londoners who 

 would know a snipe if they saw one anywhere 

 except on the dinner-table is small enough. 



To judge by the frequency of their visits, 

 migrant birds do not appear to have any 

 particular dread of large towns, though their 

 stay is naturally of the shortest. The files of 

 * The Field ' relate innumerable instances of 

 such confidence, or, as it most probably is, 

 ignorance as to the nature of the extra- 

 ordinary scenery which the very much 

 country cousin sees around him. It is not 

 unlikely that the glare of a city seen from 

 the heights above by the travelling birds may 

 actually attract them to a nearer inspection. 



