352 THE PLOVERS 



long bill lying along the ground, as though it were the pivot on which 

 it turned, and uttering loud cries all the while. Having done this for 

 a minute or so, it lay, or rather crouched, quite still on the ground, 

 its head and beak lying along it, its neck outstretched, its legs bent 

 under it, with the body rising gradually, till the posterior part, with 

 the tail, which it kept fanned out, was right in the air." l The bird 

 remained thus for some minutes, and then collected itself and flew 

 off. Mr. Selous saw in the nervous inability of this snipe to take 

 instant flight and, I think correctly the origin of the habit under 

 consideration. On two occasions I have had the opportunity of 

 observing similar behaviour by snipe, and under conditions provid- 

 ing evidence as I hope to prove presently that in the case of a 

 species in which the instinct may be said to be in an incipient stage, 

 those individuals which act in the way described by Mr. Selous are of 

 an unusually nervous temperament. I may say that I have very 

 often seen snipe leave their nests, and that the two occasions referred 

 to did not represent more than one per cent. I have also watched 

 and photographed several different snipe on their nests, and have 

 always, with the exception of the two birds mentioned above, found 

 them come readily to the nest, and easy to photograph. But these 

 two were so nervous that they ventured to return to their nests only 

 at very long intervals, and then they jumped so suddenly at the sound 

 of the shutter, that except when a very short exposure was given, the 

 photographs were spoiled. I mention this to show that in these birds 

 an unusually nervous disposition accompanied a tendency to display 

 when put off their nests. If further observation could be made on 

 other species which have not developed this habit, it seems very 

 probable that the evidence would provide grounds for regarding 

 the device as an evolutionary outcome of physical disability, 

 arising from protracted periods of incubating. A bird at such a 

 time, suddenly frightened from the nest, and for a brief period incap- 

 able of ordinary flight, might by a frenzied fluttering through the 



1 Bird Watching, p. 60. 



