SNiPE-SHOOTixa. 823 



Snipes are birds of passage, altliough there are many in- 

 stances upon record where thej breed in Britain, more par- 

 ticularly in the northern parts of Scotland. Indeed, the 

 common snipe may really be considered as indigenous to 

 Great Britain, as it is now known to breed in small numbers 

 along the southern line of the English coast; and as this 

 bird is known to go to high northern latitudes for the 

 breeding season, it is found, as might be expected, producing 

 its eggs and young much more constantly as well as fre- 

 quently in the northern counties of England, Ireland, and 

 Scotland, and its islands. However, the number bred here 

 form but a small proportion of those which fall under the 

 gun of the sportsman and poacher. They have been known 

 to breed as far south as Devonshire and Cornwall, as well as 

 Dorsetshire; and ^Ir. Jesse says, in his Notes to '* White's 

 Selbourne," under date of July 30th, 1843 : — " Young snipes 

 were seen at the Bishop of Winchester's table, Farnham 

 Castle, on this day. They had bred on all the moor heaths 

 of this neigh])ourhood. They are bred constantly on Bur- 

 well and Swaffham fens, as well as in Norfolk." Mr. Selby 

 found them in Sutherlandshire ; and Sir Humphrey Davy 

 says : — " In the heather surrounding a small lake in the 

 Island of Hoy, in the Orkneys, I found, in the month of 

 August, 1817, the nests of ten or twelve couple of snipes." 

 Mr. Hewitson met with several nests on Foula, the most 

 westerly of the Shetland Islands. Towards the end of March 

 or beginning of April, by which time snipes have nearly 

 perfected their summer plumage, the breeding season com- 

 mences, and the birds change their note entirely from that 

 they utter in winter. The male will keep on wing for an hour 

 together, mounting like a lark, uttering a shrill, piping 

 noise ; it then descends with great velocity, making a bleat- 

 ing sound, not unlike that of a goat, apparently produced by 



