COMMON SNIPE. 605 



entirely deserted on the following. Towards the end of 

 March, or beginning of April, Snipes, having nearly per- 

 fected their summer or nuptial plumage, select appropriate 

 places for nidification, and the male bird commences his calls 

 of invitation for a mate. These are always uttered upon the 

 wing, and consist of a piping or clicking note, often repeated, 

 and accompanied at intervals by a humming or bleating 

 noise, not unlike that of a goat,* apparently produced by a 

 peculiar action of the wings, as the bird, whenever this sound 

 is emitted, is observed to descend with great velocity, and 

 with a trembling motion of the pinions. At this season it 

 soars to an immense height, remaining long upon the wine;' ; 

 and its notes may frequently be heard when the bird itself 

 is far beyond the reach of sight. These flights are performed 

 at intervals during the day, but more commonly towards the 

 evening, and are continued during the whole time that the 

 female is engaged in incubation." Mr. Selby, who was in 

 Sutherlandshire in the summer of 1884, observed that the 

 Common Snipe was very abundant there in all the moory and 

 marshy tracts. 



Sir Humphrey Davy says, " In the heather surrounding 

 a small lake in the island of Hoy, in the Orkneys, I found, 

 in the month of August in 1817, the nests of ten or twelve 

 couple of Snipes. I was grouse-shooting, and my dog con- 

 tinually pointed them ; and, as there Avere sometimes three 

 young ones and two old in the nest, the scent was very 

 powerful. From accident of the season, these Snipes were 

 very late in being hatched, for they usually fly before the 

 middle of July ; but this year, even as late as the 15th of 

 August, there were many young Snipes that had not yet their 

 wing-feathers. The nest is very inartificial, the eggs large, 

 and the young ones soon become of an enormous size, being 



* In France, one of the names by which tlie Coninion Snipe is known, is 

 thai of " Ciievie volant." 



