THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 
observer of bird-life who confines his efforts to the species 
in his back garden or amongst his chimney-pots. It is a 
shy and skulking species, very rarely coming into view, 
hiding away amongst the tussocks of vegetation in wet 
places, most active during the night, and performing its 
migrations at that time. It leaves its winter retreats 
in London by March, and begins to return to them as 
early as August, its numbers i increasing during September 
and October. ‘The flight of this bird when first flushed 
is uneven and erratic, but soon becomes steadier, and is 
seldom far prolonged, unless during migration. ‘The 
bird by no means uncommonly perches in trees, but 
this is during the mating season, when, like so many other 
of its kind, it seems to drop its skulking ways and to pay 
court to its mate in the air. The love flights and drum- 
ming of the Snipe during this period are very remarkable 
and interesting. ‘The food of this Snipe consists chiefly 
of worms, grubs, insects, and small fresh-water molluscs. 
The bird is solitary in its habits in our country, but 
abroad more social tendencies are remarked. A good 
deal of this, however, may be due to the abundance of 
favourite food in a small area, and not to any social 
impulse. The Snipe’s breeding season commences to- 
wards the end of March, and eggs are laid during April 
and May in our islands, later in more northern latitudes. 
The nest is a mere hollow in some dry spot in the marshes, 
lined with a few bits of dead herbage. ‘The four eggs 
range from buff to olive in ground colour, blotched and 
spotted with rich dark brown, paler brown and grey, 
and occasionally streaked with blackish brown. But 
one brood is reared in the year. 
The adult Snipe has the general colour of the upper 
parts black, with two broad lines of pale buff on each 
side of the back, formed by the margins to the scapulars 
and mantle ; the rump and upper tail-coverts are rufous, 
barred with brownish black ; the eye-stripes and a broad 
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