282 WOODCOCK AND SNIPE 



transverse bands of silver-grey or buff and black running across the 

 closed wings, while the primaries and under parts are conspicuously 

 barred. But not the least distinctive feature of the woodcock is the 

 lichen-grey tip to the upper surface of the tail, while the under surface 

 of the same region varies from silver-grey to white. To properly 

 appraise the significance of this coloration, one must see the bird in 

 its natural surroundings, brooding its eggs, or crouching low in dread 

 of discovery by its arch enemy man, or his boon companion the dog. 

 Only by accident, as a rule, and commonly by the glitter of the great 

 anxious eye, can the form of the crouching bird be picked out from 

 among the fallen leaves and bracken stems surrounding it. Individual 

 birds, it would seem, at any rate, to make assurance doubly sure, go 

 so far, when fearful of discovery, as to throw dead leaves over the 

 back. The late Lord Lilford, I believe, once witnessed a frightened 

 bird perform this act. A more certain way of studying this wonderful 

 assimilation is open to those who have the good fortune to discover the 

 nest, for one has then but to wait and watch for the duties of brooding 

 to be resumed. The young in down, it is significant to note, is clad in 

 dull reds and black, but the pattern of the coloration, one is at first 

 surprised to find, is arranged in longitudinal stripes black stripes on 

 a dull red ground. On reflection, however, one recalls the fact that 

 for some as yet obscure reason, a striped livery is characteristic of 

 young birds, at any rate of those which enter the world in a precocious 

 condition ; so that we may regard the general dull red of the ground- 

 colour as a later character, superimposed on an ancestral striped 

 livery. The same factors, indeed, which have determined the general 

 tone of the plumage of the adult have also governed the hue of 

 the nestling. 



Turning now to our Snipe, we find the three species all similarly 

 coloured, and, it is needless to remark, they are birds of similar 

 habits, though differing in certain details to be discussed presently. 

 In all three, the most conspicuous feature of the upper surface is the 

 presence of longitudinal yellow stripes, a median stripe down the head, 



