12 GREAT SNIPE, 
the evening, or by the light of the ‘Vaga Luna,’ aif ‘bore 
with their bills in suitable places in search thereof. 
The note is a monosyllabic ‘bad, bad,’ uttered, it is said, 
when one of these birds happens to meet another, and also, 
Mr. Selby says, on being disturbed. | 
The nest is placed on a tust of grass or hidock in a marsh 
near to some standing water, and is lined with a little dry 
grass and fragments of other herbage. 
The eggs are four in number, of a yellowish olive brown 
colour, spotted with two shades of reddish brown. They require 
seventeen days incubation, and then the young are tended for 
about a month by their parents. 
Male; weight, from seven to nine ounces; length, about one — 
foot, to one foot and half an inch; bill, dusky at the tip, 
darker brown towards the middle, pale yellowish brown at 
the base; from it a cream yellow streak spotted with brown 
proceeds over the eye; between the bill and the eye is a narrow 
streak of rich chesnut brown. Forehead and crown, rich dark 
brown, with a few specks of reddish brown, along it a narrow 
pale brown or cream-coloured stripe; head on the sides, dull 
cream white, speckled with dusky; neck, pale brown, the centre 
of each feather darker brown; on the back and the nape, pale 
yellowish rufous, spotted with black; in front the neck is 
yellowish white, with large angular brown spots. Chin and 
throat, dull cream-coloured white, speckled with dusky; breast 
above, pale brown, with semicircular bands of brownish black; 
on its lower part, pale brownish white, with the same dark 
brown cross markings as above. Back above, rich brownish 
black, the feathers margined and streaked along their centres 
with fine buff or straw-colour; on the lower part, dark brown 
edged with paler brown. 
The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they 
measure in expanse one foot and a half; greater wing coverts, 
black, tipped with white; lesser wing coverts, nearly black, 
the upper ones tipped with pale yellowish brown, the lower 
with white; primaries, dusky or dull greyish black, the shafts 
white; secondaries, dull black, tipped with white; tertiaries, 
black, barred with pale brown, and margined with a double 
line of black and yellowish white. The tail is of sixteen 
feathers, the two centre ones black for two thirds of their 
length, the two next, that is, one on each side, nearly all 
white, the others rich brownish black from the base for three 
fourths of their length, followed by a patch of chesnut 
