PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 277 



March. The immigration extends to Ireland, lasting from September till December, 

 although at its height in October : the birds come mainly from the north-east to the 

 coast of Ulster, and in frost they move towards the west side of the island. The 

 return movement takes place chiefly in March, but does not altogether cease till 

 May (cf. Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 278). The snipe is frequently 

 obtained at the light-stations. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nest is a rather neat, cup-shaped hollow in a 

 tussock or clump of rushes, in some marshy place, sometimes among heather 

 or in wet meadows. It is lined with dead grasses alone, and is not easy to find 

 except for the fact that the sitting bird when flushed rises straight from the nest. 

 (PL L.) Whether the cock assists the hen in building is not recorded. The eggs 

 are normally 4 in number, large for the size of the bird, and placed with their pointed 

 ends together. Nests have occasionally been met with containing the unusual 

 number of 5 eggs. They are pyriform in shape, and the ground-colour varies, as 

 a rule, from pale greenish yellow to olive-brown, sometimes quite deep in shade, 

 but usually light. Some eggs show a distinct pale greenish ground. The rich 

 markings consist of vandyke-brown or blackish brown spots and blotches, chiefly 

 at the large end, and sometimes tending to a zone, with underlying ashy shellmarks. 

 (PI. K.) Average size of 100 eggs, l'56x 1-12 in. [39'8x 28'7 mm.]. Naumann gives 

 the incubation period as 15 to 17 days, which is probably too low, as W. Evans notes 

 that the eggs hatched on the twentieth day from the laying of the last egg, and 

 Hantzsch gives the period as 18 to 20 days. Most of this duty is certainly performed 

 by the hen, the male sometimes squatting close at hand or "bleating" overhead. 

 Hantzsch states that he occasionally takes her place at rare and irregular intervals. 

 The breeding season usually begins about mid- April, though occasionally eggs may 

 be found in the last ten days of March, and fresh eggs may often be found up to 

 the middle of May. In the Shetlands few eggs are laid before the beginning of 

 May. Although many birds only breed once in the season, there is strong evidence 

 that a second brood is occasionally reared, and there are several instances on record 

 of eggs having been found as late as mid- August. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Worms, insects and their larvae, slugs, and molluscs. Vegetable 

 matter, chiefly grass, is also found in the stomachs of birds examined (New- 

 stead, Food of some British Birds, p. 81). The young, at least for some days, are 

 said to be fed directly by the parents (British Birds, mag., ii. 250). No definite 

 information as to the nature of their food is available, [w. P. P.] 



