GALLINAGO 75 



web of the feathers faced towards so as to cut the air when the arrow 

 was shot. It was, of course, also necessary to place the feathers in 

 the same plane as the string, so that they would not be damaged as 

 the arrow left the bow. 



" I shot it almost vertically to a height of about 60 or 70 yards. 

 The velocity of the arrow in leaving the bow was probably too great 

 to produce the normal ' drumming ' sound, though it somewhat 

 resembled it ; when the arrow turned to descend, nothing could at first 

 be heard, but when it gained speed, and was about 30 yards from the 

 ground, the most perfect imitation of the ' drumming ' was produced, 

 continuing till the arrow pierced the sod." 



Before leaving the topic of drumming or bleating, part of a very 

 interesting article by Mr. Boyes may be quoted from the ' Field ' of 

 July 1898. He writes :— 



" I am not aware whether any naturalist has stated that the hen 

 bird drums as well as the male, but I think I can settle this point in 

 the affirmative, for one day I visited a very small strip of bog, and 

 almost immediately rose the cock bird which commenced to drum 

 alone and around me in a very short time. I flushed the hen oft' her 

 nest of three eggs, and as she left it she dropped the fourth egg, which 

 broke in its fall, and the bird, continuing its flight, struck itself 

 against some posts and rails and fell stunned to the ground, but soon 

 recovered and flew away. I marked it, and afterwards went and put 

 it up. All this time the male was drumming overhead, and no other 

 Snipes were in the neighbourhood. The female now joined in the 

 drumming, and the two were drumming for some time, and then they 

 both alighted on the tops of posts, and allowed me to walk quite near 

 them, nodding their heads at me all the while." 



The reader will note the curious fact of the snipe sitting on the 

 posts, but, though here in India the idea of the snipe perching seems 

 curiously improbable, it is a well-known fact that in their breeding 

 range and when breeding, they frequently do so. 



The food of the Fantail Snipe consists of worms of all or any 

 kind, insects, more especially water insects, tiny shell-fish, land 

 shells, larvae of dragon-flies, caddis-flies, etc. Digestion in snipes 

 seems to be exceedingly rapid, and often, even in very fat birds, 

 the stomach will be found to contain only liquid, a fact which very 

 probably gave rise to the belief, at one time so common, that snipe 

 lived on microscopic insects and some nutriment they derived from 

 suction of the mud itself. 



