3\4 aster Blcater 



WALKING over marshy ground in April, you perhaps 

 put up some snipe, who go away on wonderfully swift, 

 zigzag courses, uttering their alarm-notes " scape- 

 scape." 



It is very fascinating in April to lie in wait to watch 

 snipe to their nests ; and then to work over the marshy 

 ground they haunt, or round about some great pond, 

 in the hope of a reward in the rare and charming sight 

 of their eggs. A lark's nest may be found at the same 

 time ; duck, moorhens, coot, and other water-birds 

 may be seen and heard ; and overhead float and toss 

 the wailing peewits, their minds also set on nesting. 



Aloft, through April evenings, you see the snipe 

 performing the strange exercises they practise in 

 nesting-days, rising to great heights, then shooting 

 down, on violently beating wings, and making the 

 most curious, mysterious noise, drumming, or bleating, 

 produced by certain feathers. 



Before you put up the snipe, he crouched low to the 

 ground, the mottled brown feathers matching well 

 the withered grasses and the rushes of marshy, fenny 

 ground where ho hides ; wandering along, you may 

 suddenly be startled at finding snipe rising all about 

 you. 



