178 The Natural History of Selborne 



meadows. If the matter appears as you say in the other 

 species, may it not be owing to the dams being engaged in 

 incubation, while the young are concealed by the leaves ? 



Many times have I had the curiosity to open the stomachs 

 of woodcocks and snipes ; but nothing ever occurred that 

 helped to explain to me what their subsistence might be : all 

 that I could ever find was a soft mucus, among which lay 

 many pellucid small gravels. I am, &c. 



