Habits and Habitat of Snipe. 1 99 



Beyond a doubt, the Scolopacidce are par- 

 ticularly moth-like in the irresistible influence 

 exercised on them by brilliant light : no small 

 proportion of the victims found by lighthouse- 

 keepers dashed to death against the blazing 

 lenses of their lanterns belong to this 

 family. 



To Woodcock especially a strong glare is 

 a powerful magnet, though science does not 

 seem to have any explanation to offer as to 

 why this and other night-loving birds should 

 be drawn to blind their beautiful limpid eyes 

 with the light of which they are naturally so 

 intolerant. I once watched for a long time a 

 fine Woodcock flitting silently about the lamp- 

 lit entrance of the busy Great Western station 

 at Exeter, only a few yards above the noisy 

 cabs and carriages and bustling human-kind 

 which rendered the place, one would think, a 

 horrible pandemonium to the lonely creature. 

 The bird seemed to know perfectly well what 

 it was about, and thouorh makingr occasional 

 excursions off into the gloom, it always re- 

 turned to its apparently absorbing contem- 



