COMMON SNIPE. 181 



heard except in the downward flight, and when the 

 wings are in rapid and quivering motion ; their re- 

 sistance to the air, without doubt, causes the noise, 

 which forms one of those agreeable variations in a 

 country walk, so earnestly watched for by the prac- 

 tical ornithologist. 



After incubation, the young may still be found 

 near their breeding places, and it is not until the 

 weather becomes variable, that they, according to 

 circumstances, begin to shift their ground. We 

 have often found them abundant in the low and 

 sheltered marshes, and the day following sought the 

 same ground, scarcely meeting with a bird. The 

 same occurs on the upland wet pastures, and they 

 come in and remove with the night. Frost has a 

 similar effect on their motions, but in very severe 

 weather, this drives them to be pretty stationary 

 until the next change. They are also sometimes 

 found in grounds having a considerable growth of 

 scattered willow or alder, where the woodcock would 

 rather have been looked for ; and, in a very severe 

 winter, we have seen Snipes come to the garden, 

 and perch on the cabbages and greens along with 

 the wood-pigeon, apparently in search of any mois- 

 ture held between the blades. 



From the close resemblance and alliance of some 

 apparently distinct species of Snipe to that of Bri- 

 tain, the exact geographical range has not been 

 ascertained ; by some it is made to be extremely 

 wide, while by others, again, it is almost restricted 

 to Europe. Both are probably wrong, and much of 



