122 GRALLATORES. SCOLOPAX. SNIPE. 



panied at intervals by a humming or bleating noise, not un- 

 like that of a goat, apparently produced by a peculiar action 

 of the wings, as the bird, whenever this sound is emitted, is 

 observed to descend with great velocity, and with a trem- 

 bling motion of the pinions. At this season it soars to an im- 

 mense height, remaining long upon the wing ; and its notes 

 may frequently be heard when the bird itself is far beyond 

 the reach of sight. These flights are performed at intervals 

 during the day, but more commonly towards the evening, 

 and are continued during the whole time that the female is 

 Nest, &c. engaged in incubation. The nest is usually placed under 

 the shelter of a bush of heath, or a tuft of rushes in the bogs 

 so common upon all our northern moors, and is formed by 

 lining a slight depression in the earth with decayed grasses, 

 pieces of heather, and other dry materials. The eggs, four 

 in number, are of a yellowish-grey, inclining to oil-green, 

 blotched with brown of two different shades, and always 

 placed, like those of other birds of this order, with the smaller 

 ends inwards. The young, as soon as hatched, quit the nest, 

 and are then covered with a parti-coloured down of brown, 

 white, and yellowish-grey, as shewn in Fig. 4, which repre- 

 sents one about eight days old ; and this is rapidly succeed- 

 ed by a plumage very similar to that of the adults, but 

 darker in its shades. The young are attended by the parent 

 birds till they are almost fully fledged, and capable of pro- 

 viding for themselves. The bill, upon their exclusion from 

 the shell, is very short, and does not acquire its full dimen- 

 sions for two or three months ; and the young birds may be 

 known by the flexibility and tenderness of this member, after 

 every other indication of immaturity has disappeared. As 

 autumn advances, they begin to change their haunts, and 

 descend to the lower parts of the country, and are then to be 

 found in all the fenny districts, in moist pastures, wet stub- 

 bles, and, indeed, in every situation likely to afford the re- 

 Food, quisite food, viz. worms and insects obtained in a similar 

 manner to the rest of this genus, by probing the soft earth 



