LIMICOLM. ( 241 ) SCOLOPACIDM. 



THE COMMON SNIPE. 



MOOR OR MIRE SNIPE, HEATHER BLEATER, BLITER OR BLUTTER. 



Gallinago ccelestis. 

 %1^t 9^ivt »)nipe, ^ijc ^eatljer Blutter. 



Amid these woodless wilds, a small round lake 

 I've sometimes marked, girt by a spungy sward 

 Of lively green, with here a?id there a flower 

 Of deep-tinged purple, firmly stalked, of form 

 Pyra7nidal — the shores bristling with reeds. 

 That midway over wade, and, as they bend, 

 Disclose the water lily dancing light 

 On waves soft-rippled by the July gale. 

 Hither the long and soft-billed Snipe resorts. 



Grahame, Birds of Scotland. 



In former times when reedy pools, bogs, and mires abounded 

 all over the county, the Snipe would be much more plenti- 

 ful than it is now ; for agricultural improvements and 

 drainage have left it very few swampy spots on which to 

 rest the sole of its foot. It is, however, still found during 

 the autumn in considerable numbers in suitable places, such 

 as about Legerwood Loch, Lurgie Loch,^ and Eedpath Bog, 

 and on the wet moors and mosses of the hills^ — Harelaw 

 Moor, in the parish of Westruther, having been a favourite 



1 Mr. Black, Girrick, says that this loch or bog, which is dry in summer, is 

 much frequented by Snipe in autumn and winter, when he has seen as many as 

 fifty or sixty upon it in a day. Tlie site is covered with natural birch and rough 

 hill grass. — Notes from Mr. Black, 12th January 1888. 



2 Mr. Walter Elliot, HoUybush, informed me on the 16th of August 1887 that 

 there is a bog on the march between Ellemford and Harehead Farms where Snipe 

 are very plentiful in August and September. As many as fifty may be put up in 

 walking over it. 



VOL. II. Q 



