4 SCOLOPACID^. 



Snipe during the pairing season. The following is his account, taken from 

 Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe ' * : — " During the pairing-season the habits of 

 this bird are very peculiar ; for it has a so-called ' Leg ' or ' Spil,' like some of the 

 Grouse tribe, a sort of meeting-place, where they collect to ' drum,' and often to 

 engage in combat for the possession of the females : and in this respect it differs 

 widely from its allies ; for it does not indulge in aerial evolutions, but remains on 

 the ground. Though its habits are so peculiar at this season, they are, compara- 

 tively speaking, seldom observed, as its note, or song as it may be called, is very 

 low in tone. This also is the only time when individuals of the Double Snipe 

 collect together in small numbers. The drumming-place (Spil-plads) is usually in 

 some damp place in the marsh where there is water between the tussocks ; and 

 the number of pairs resorting to the same drumming-place is usually eight or ten, 

 frequently less, and sometimes more. In a large morass at Fokstuen, in the 

 Dovre, where many birds which frequent the fells breed, especially Totani, 

 TringcB, and different Waterfowl, I have known the ' Spil ' to consist of twenty 

 pairs, and even more. Here the ' Spil ' or drumming-season commences late in 

 May, soon after the birds arrive, and lasts until the end of June, or until the 

 females commence incubation. As soon as the dusk commences to set in, and 

 whilst it is still tolerably light, the ' Spil ' begins, and is continued throughout 

 the night until the early morning. The male bird utters a soft, almost 

 warbling note, which is accompanied by a peculiar snapping sound caused by 

 striking the mandibles together several times in quick succession ; and he 

 then runs about in the grass in front of the females, jumps every now and 

 again on a tussock, puffs out his feathers, and drops his wings. If a person 

 approaches one of these drumming-places he can hear at some distance the 

 loAv note bip, hip, hiphip, bipbtperere, biperere ; and when within about a hundred 

 paces, if the night is still, he begins to hear other peculiar sounds, which 

 sometimes remind one of the distant cry of the Common Sandpiper, and 

 sometimes of that of the Redshank, and intermingled with these a peculiar 

 hissing or piping note which seems almost incomprehensible. On approaching 

 closer, the snapping sound is heard clearly, and the other whistling notes seem to 

 become a regular song in short stanzas with variations, some of which are 

 exceedingly well executed. When uttering these notes the bird is usually perched 

 on a tussock, from winch it occasionally jumps down and ascends another in the 

 immediate vicinity; but as a rule it sits for long immovable on the same place, 

 never, like the Golden Plover, on the highest tussock or mound it can find, but 



• Vol. vii. pp. 636, 637. 



