OF THE BIRDS MENTIONED Le7 
leaves and buds of water plants, grass, grain, etc. 
Plumage: Black (darkest beneath), greyish-black on 
back, with a narrow bar across wings (not well seen 
from a distance). Beak: Dull white, pale flesh (pink) 
in spring. Eyes: Red. Legs and Feet: Dark green. 
Toes: Peculiarly webbed with scallop-shaped lobes. 
Male and female: Alike. Nest: April, large (see 
Plate XXXVIII), shallow on top, floating (can rise 
and fall with water), or on land near water, on the 
ground, in grass, rushes or reeds, etc. Madeof: Dried 
sticks for foundation if floating, reeds, flags, etc. 
Little or no lining. Second nests: Probably. Eggs: 
Light stone colour, speckled freely with dark brown 
spots, some being very minute. Seven to ten, or even 
fifteen. 
Oo FUEL (Ok COMMON) SNIPE 
(Pages 51-60) 
Gallinago celestis. (Dutch, snip; Low German, snippe ; 
Dan., snappe.) (See also remarks under Jack Snipe.) 
A grallatorial (long-legged, wading) bird. Found: In 
selected boggy and marshy places, where the ground 
is soft, as it lives chiefly by suction with its bill in 
the mud. Syn.: French, chévre-volant (flying goat), 
from a noise the male makes (with the wings or beak, 
or both) during nesting time, likened variously to the 
