COMMON SNIPE 277 
as the Green Sandpiper, not only perch on trees, but breed 
in them. 
The Snipe seems to depend largely on the light reflected 
from the moon to guide it on its night-flights to and from 
its feeding-grounds. With a full moon it travels far and 
wide, and distributes itself about the swamps, rivulets, and 
bog-lands of hill and dale, as well as along the ooze of our 
tidal estuaries, and if moonlight should fail before morning, 
the bird will often remain where darkness has overtaken it. 
In hard, frosty weather, many betake themselves to the 
sand-flats of our coasts, or assemble on low-lying bog-lands 
in the vicinity of the sea. ‘ Wisps,’ ranging from thirty 
to one hundred birds, are not uncommon in these localities, 
but it must not be inferred, from the numbers seen together, 
that a migration has just taken place. Indeed, ‘ wisping’ 
is rather uncommon before midwinter, when the southern 
migratory movement has come to a standstill. After a 
bright night, and in stormy weather accompanied by a heavy 
rainfall, the birds sleep on comparatively dry ground, such 
as meadow-land, islands, and shores of inland lakes. This 
habit 1s characteristic of Woodcocks also. 
If the mght be very dark, Snipe seldom wander far from 
their nesting-haunts, preferring, in the absence of moonlight, 
to feed by day in the marshes and bog-lands. 
Food.—Small worms, insects, slugs, snails, and such 
small creatures as are found in soft mud, constitute the diet. 
When feeding, the bird walks slowly about, with its head 
bent low and the point of its beak almost scraping the 
ground. As it traverses the mud, it bores in all directions, 
procuring its food and eating it before withdrawing the 
point of its beak from the soil. The Snipe is said to have a 
keen sense of hearing: it is supposed to stand and listen to 
the movements of worms underground, and it may be seen 
suddenly plunging its beak into the mud, at the spot from 
whence the sound proceeded, and seizing its food. I doubt 
this theory; it is more probable that the worm makes the 
soil move and the bird detects this by the eye. 
Votice—When flushed from cover, a rather harsh sound 
resembling the syllables, skaisk, skaisk, or, as it 1s often 
syllabled, scape, scape, is uttered. 
Flight.—The flight is remarkably rapid, and few of us 
are unacquainted with the wonderful impetus with which 
this bird launches itself into the air, followed by the extra- 
ordinary zig-zag movements performed on the wing imme- 
