COMMON SNIPE. 307 



has been the case in other counties, and particularly in 

 Huntingdonshire, where the once celebrated Wittlesea 

 Mere now waves with corn crops instead of reeds. 

 Yet, when snipes bred numerously in those fens,* the 

 migratory nights in autumn, combined with others 

 performing the same southward movement, afforded good 

 sport in our own marshes, under certain conditions 

 of wind and temperature. Still further afield also, the 

 great increase in the number of grouse-shooters in Scot- 

 land, of late years, will account for a considerable 

 number of snipe bagged in the early part of the season 

 which would otherwise pass on to us with the first frost.f 



oasis, not much larger than a good sized garden, was evergreen, and 

 all the year haunted by snipes never more so than in the breeding 

 season, when, perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that, there may 

 have been from a dozen to a score of pairs. About the time that the 

 late Duke of Grafton succeeded to his father, the farm on which 

 the Hunhill-lows are was let to a new tenant, who, being of a more 

 enterprizing character than his predecessor, began the usual course 

 of agricultural improvements. A drain was cut straight from the 

 spring, and a direct outfall made for the water instead of its being 

 allowed to find its own way, and in so doing to promote the growth 

 of the rough herbage. Sheep, even breeding ewes, came to pasture 

 in summer without fear of the rot, and in winter black cattle 

 grazed without a chance of being bogged. The surface soon 

 became almost as smooth as a well kept lawn, and the snipes of 

 course vanished. 



* It would appear that formerly in the "Fen" district, many 

 more snipes were snared than shot, being thus of more value for 

 the table. The snaring was generally practiced during hard 

 weather, when there were but few runs of open water. The 

 snares were of horse-hair, and set wherever the ground was " soft." 

 This custom, however, has never, I believe, prevailed much in the 

 " Broad " district. 



f Mr. Lubbock, in his " Fauna," mentions an excellent letter on 

 British snipes, under the signature of " H. Y. D.," in the second 

 volume of " London's Magazine of Natural History" (p. 143), which, 

 according to a note in Thompson's "Birds of Ireland " (vol. ii., p. 



