COMMON SNIPE. 319 



or the sedgy margins of pit holes and ditches, as 

 well as in such marshes as are then sufficiently moist. 

 They have also a decided preference for such as have 

 been frequented by cattle during the summer months, 

 their dung affording much insect food. The low lands 

 near the salt marshes, on the coast, also afford good 

 sport at times when the snipes are first over, and in 

 such localities, at Blakeney, Mr. Dowell has known 

 as many as twelve couples killed to one gun in a day. 

 These, however, soon pass on to the southward to 

 be succeeded by others throughout September, but 

 it is seldom that any number are bagged until the 

 main body of the ' migratory snipes disperse themselves 

 over the broads and marshes in October and November. 

 As Mr. Lubbock remarks, "their abundance and their 

 stay are regulated in great measure by the wind and 

 the mildness or severity of the weather. The best 

 seasons for snipe-shooting are those in which moderate 

 easterly or north-easterly gales occur at intervals during 

 September, October, and November, Should too long 

 an interval occur without such wind, the snipes, when 

 it comes, pour in upon us in great numbers, but gener- 

 ally depart again in a few days." Usually, as far as 

 my experience goes, the latter month is the most 

 favourable, and on the broads, especially, they are then 

 more accessible in boats,* the reeds having been cut, or 



at first seldom find them near water, almost invariably in dry 

 situations, in pasture land amongst the long grass, or on stubbles." 

 * At such times, as Yarrell, in the article before mentioned, 

 states from his experience of the broads, " they rest on beds of 

 watercresses and the broken remains of Scirpus lacustris (which 

 had previously been cut by the marshmen, under the name of 

 holders, for chair bottoms); and the Typha latifolia (vulgo 

 gladdon), and Sparganium ramosum (vulgo black-weed), which 

 are used by coopers to put between the staves of casks ; on the 

 floating remains of these and other aquatic plants they lie in great 

 numbers." 



