COMMON SNIPE. 35 



in the Magazine of Natural History, describing their mode 

 of feeding, as observed by himself with a powerful tele- 

 scope, says, " I distinctly saw them pushing their bills 

 into the thin mud, by repeated thrusts, quite up to me 

 base, drawing them back with great quickness, and every 

 now and then shifting their ground a little." The holes 

 made with their bills, when thus searching for food, are 

 easily traced. In a communication on the subject of 

 Snipes, I described a peculiarity in the beak of all the 

 species of the genus Scolopax. The end of the beak of 

 a Snipe, when the bird is alive, or if recently killed, is 

 smooth, soft, and pulpy, indicating great sensibility; but 

 some time afterwards it becomes dimpled like the end of a 

 thimble. If the upper mandible be macerated in water 

 for a few days, the skin, or cuticle, may be readily peeled 

 off; and the bones thus laid bare exhibit an appearance, 

 of which the engraving here introduced is a magnified 

 representation. 



The external surface presents numerous elongated, hexa- 

 gonal cells, which afford at the same time protection, and 

 space for the expansion, of minute portions of nerves sup- 

 plied to them by two branches of the fifth pair ; and the 

 end of the bill becomes, in consequence of this provision, 

 a delicate organ of touch, to assist these birds when boring 

 for their food in soft ground ; this enlarged extremity of 

 the beak, which it will be recollected is a generic distinc- 

 tion, possessing such a degree of sensibility as to enable 



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