90 



thers, the young losing their first feathers on the back and 

 breast and getting them replaced by somewhat similar coloured 

 feathers, but rather larger than those cast, and less distinctly 

 marked. 



In consequence of the rapid moult and the regularity of it 

 amongst the individuals, and the number of them, quantities of 

 feathers lie about wherever a large flock has remained any time, 

 the primaries and tail feathers being those of the old birds and 

 much worn, they having served the birds a whole year, and in the 

 birds of the preceding year from the time they first got them. 



In calm weather they move little during the day unless dis- 

 turbed, but during windy weather these large flocks fly about 

 much more, and often whilst you were wading knee deep in the 

 great extent of flooded land, these large flocks would come very 

 scattered right at you at a great pace and give you a pretty shot, 

 though you could only get a single bird if you could hit it. I 

 have often seen them fly over the dry parts of the Car also in the 

 same way where it was rough heathery peaty land, and often 

 though you saw the bird fall to the shot you could not find it, 

 particularly if carried by the wind, so difficult were they to see 

 in the rough heather. By the end of September the old birds 

 had lost all trace of the black breast and their wings are again 

 nearly complete, and soon after this the flocks are not nearly 

 so numerous, many of them having got their perfect wings and 

 probably migrated southwards. 



Snipes if left alone bred abundantly ; they only were at their 

 breeding ground from April till September, after which the old 

 birds having got through the moult, they left following the 

 young, which probably went south soon after being able to fly 

 well. Prestwick Car was the only place I ever saw what you 

 might call Snipes at home, and there they certainly were in spring, 

 summer, and early autumn. In winter scarcely one was to be 

 seen, and then not on the Car itself, but on the runner sides. 

 The regular migration of breeding Snipes came in March, and 

 they bred there in numbers, or would have done if they had not 

 been so much disturbed. The place was bad enough in those 



