1 58 Poachers and Poaching. 



marshes, as the former give a greater variety 

 of food. This consists of worms, insects and 

 their larvae, beetles, tiny land-shells and grit. 

 When in season the birds are loaded with flesh and 

 fat. Only a slight nest is constructed at breeding 

 time, when four eggs are laid ; these are olive- 

 green with purplish-brown blotches. The bird 

 is not known to breed with us, though it does 

 in Scandinavia, and here it is sometimes known 

 to tear up the surrounding moss with which to 

 cover its back. This it does for the purpose 

 of concealment, a proceeding which is sometimes 

 practised by the woodcock. The following in- 

 teresting fact is recorded by two gentlemen who 

 have observed the bird in its breeding grounds. 

 " The great snipe has a lek or playing ground, 

 similar to that of some of the grouse tribe, the 

 places of meeting, or spil-pads, being frequented 

 by several pairs of birds from dusk to early 

 morning. The male utters a low note re- 

 sembling bip, bip, bipbip, bipbiperere, bip er ere, 

 varied by a sound like the smacking of a tongue, 

 produced by striking the mandibles smartly and 

 in rapid succession ; he then jumps upon a 

 tussock of grass, swelling out his feathers, 

 spreading his tail, drooping his wings in front of 



the female, and uttering a tremulous sbirr 



The males fight by slashing feebly with their 

 wings, but the combat is not of long duration." 

 As the characteristics of the great snipe become 



