SNIPE. 



fibres. The eggs are four in number, of a pale greenish 

 grey with brown spots, and they are placed in a cross 

 with the four mall ends at the centre. The young-, 

 as is the habit in all ground birds, come out of the 

 shell covered with down, but with their feet so well 

 developed, that they are very speedily able to find 

 their own food ; but they do not come to full maturity 

 till the following spring. 



At all times they lie close in the bushes and other 

 herbage, and cannot be raised to the wing without 

 much difficulty, they are also very short and "twitchy" 

 in their flight ; and thus snipe-shooting requires some 

 training both in the dog and the sportsman. Birds 

 of prey also find the snipes laborious game. In the 

 first place they have to beat a long time before they 

 can " flush" a snipe, that is, make it take to the wing ; 

 and then if it gets the start but a little way, it wheels 

 and doubles so often and so rapidly, that if the hawk 

 is not altogether thrown out, the chase is often a very 

 protracted one. 



THE WOODCOCK (5. rusticola). The woodcock is 

 a much larger and more celebrated bird than the 

 snipe. The total length of it is about one foot three, 

 and the weight from three-quarters of a pound to 

 nearly a pound ; the bill is considerably longer than 

 in the snipe, but formed in much the same manner ; 

 the forehead is ash-colour, and all the rest of the 

 upper part barred with black and grey ; the under 

 parts are yellowish, with longitudinal dusky streaks ; 

 the tail consists of twelve black feathers with rust- 

 coloured margins to their outer webs, and ash- 

 coloured tips ; their under surface is whitish. There 

 are, however, very great varieties both in the size and 

 colour of these birds ; and, according to some of the 

 authorities, the female bird is larger than the male. 



The woodcock is in the great majority of its num- 

 bers, a bird of passage in Britain, and it was long a 

 question whether any remain to breed. The point 

 has been settled by the actual discovery of nests and 

 broods both in England and Scotland. The eggs 

 and young have not been found in any considerable 

 number, but they have been met with at points along 

 almost the whole length of the country. 



They are birds of wild marshy copses, where they 

 can find food in the sludge by the sides of the pools 

 and runs of water. Solitude, shelter, and humidity 

 are the three essentials of the woodcock ; and it 

 requires them all jointly. Hence, as cultivation 

 changes the character of a country, these birds shift. 

 Drainage, cultivation, and increased population drive 

 them from the richer parts of the country, however 

 well these may be wooded. On the other hand, the un- 

 cultivated moors, however humid they may be, are as 

 ill-adapted for them ; and thus when such places are 

 planted with copses in lonely spots near the water, 

 the woodcocks will come, and if the places continue 

 humid enough during the summer, they will remain 

 and breed. The first of these changes has gone far 

 to banish them from some parts of Britain even as 

 visitants, and the other has made them partially resi- 

 dent, and plenty as visiters in places where none 

 formerly existed. In Scotland this has been espe- 

 cially the case on the southern slopes of the Gram- 

 pians towards Strathrnore, and in Ross-shire about 

 the head of the frith of Cromarty ; and no doubt there 

 have been instances as remarkable in other places, 

 both in the north and the south of Britain, and espe- 

 cially where plantations have been formed in Ireland. 



The grand resort of the woodcocks in. summer is, 



however, understood to be the marshy woods to the 

 north of the Baltic, and the farther north, so that the 

 place is wooded, the better, as the insect food for the 

 birds is not only more numerous, but the sludge of 

 the marshes is more exclusively the nidus of the larvae. 

 Hence, to make sure that woodcocks shall breed in 

 any place, the best way is to make it " as like Lap- 

 land" as possible. The birds remain in concealment 

 in the woods during the day, and come out only 

 when the evening begins to get damp, at which time 

 they utter their peculiar cry which resembles that of 

 the snipe, but is less harsh and shrill. They are 

 more social birds among each other than the snipes, 

 and generally come to the feeding grounds, and also 

 quit them in little parties, and they follow the same 

 paths. Their flight on these occasions is always low, 

 as if they sought cover even when they are flying. 

 From this habit they are easily taken by means of 

 nets. Springes and nooses were also much in use 

 in former times, when there were far more neglected 

 pools and marshy places in England than there are 

 now ; and the ease and certainty of this mode of 

 capture are alluded to by Shakspeare, when he men- 

 tions " Springes to catch woodcocks," a kind of sport- 

 ing which the bard himself had no doubt often tried. 

 Woodcocks are very expert in finding out where 

 there are worms and other little animals in ihe 

 ground, and they are just as dexterous at drawing 

 them out. The first discovery must be made by the 

 scent, because there is no other sense which the bird 

 can exercise ; and then, the worms are so quick in 

 perceiving any agitation of the earth, that the securing 

 of them by means of a bill boring and [poking in the 

 ground, is a very curious matter. 



The nests of these birds are usually placed in the 

 thick underwood at the roots of the trees, or in bushes, 

 and they are formed of dry vegetable matters, such as 

 moss and leaves, and withered stalks ; the eggs are 

 four in number, larger than those of the common 

 pigeon, of a dull yellowish white colour in the ground, 

 and spotted with" ash-colour and reddish brown most 

 abundantly at the larger ends. Such nests as have 

 been met with in Britain have generally had eggs in 

 them in June ; and it is highly probable that, in all 

 countries in which they breed, the longest days are 

 their favourite season. The long twilight of such 

 times is advantageous to them ; and in those latitudes 

 where they breed most abundantly there is twilight all 

 the night through for a considerable time, and for 

 some time sunshine. There are frequent fogs in such 

 places, and while they are on the surface is the 

 feeding-time of the woodcocks. The quantity of food, 

 especially of earth-worms, which the woodcock con- 

 sumes, is perfectly wonderful ; and those who specu- 

 late about the matter come to the conclusion that it 

 would be hard labour for a man to find, in this way, 

 the food of three woodcocks. This even exceeds the 

 labour which is said (satirically most likely) to have 

 once fallen on the ladies of honour and the courtiers 

 of a certain royal establishment, in consequence of a 

 gift of lizards having been made to a queen. These 

 lizards would eat nothing but flies ; and the attend- 

 ants at the royal palace were so completely worn out 

 with fly-hunting, that it was at last resolved to call in 

 the aid of the household troops ; but, fortunately, a 

 severe frost put a period to the life of the lizards, and 

 thus the fly-catching was at an end, much to the joy 

 of the exhausted courtiers. 



It is in the autumn and winter that the woodcocks 



