SNIPE 



the marsh, and before we have gone very far we become 

 conscious of a series of clicking sounds, like 'jick-juck,' 

 'jick-juck,' 'jick-juck,' rapidly repeated, which apparently 

 proceed from some creature on the ground. We follow 

 these up, and as we draw near, what should rise just in 

 front of us but a veritable common snipe, which, after flying 

 some distance, rises up in the air uttering the same peculiar 

 notes which first attracted our attention ! As we watch it 

 rising upward it is repeating these vocal notes all the time, 

 but after attaining a sufficient altitude, it suddenly turns, 

 and with wings shaking or trembling, and tail widely spread, 

 the feathers of which seem to be turned somewhat sideways 

 and are distinctly seen to be vibrating, the bird shoots rapidly 

 and obliquely downwards for some distance, and it is then — 

 whilst it is making this sudden swoop — that the peculiar 

 sound called ' drumming ' is heard. Those who have heard 

 this peculiar sound in the distance, say, on a still summer's 

 evening, with the birds in the sky invisible, may well be 

 excused for likening the sounds to the bleating of a Iamb 

 on some distant upland. That the sound is produced by 

 the vibration of the feathers in their rapid passage through 

 the air is unquestionable, for a similar sound can be produced 

 by striking a boy's thin wooden sword rapidly downward, 

 the resistance of the air causing it to vibrate and give out a 

 peculiar sound similar in tone to that of the bird ; and those 

 who have spent much time in the marshes must have heard 

 at one time or another the wind playing through the broad- 

 leaved sedges, and, catching a leaf at a particular angle, 

 make it produce a sound of a like character. I need scarcely 

 say the ' drumming ' is never produced except when the bird 

 is on the wing and descending, but the vocal sounds ' tinka,' 

 'tinka,' 'tinka,' are often uttered whilst the bird is sitting on 

 the ground or on a post or sod wall. One correspondent 

 states he has never been able to make out whether both cock 

 and hen birds make the * drumming,' but he fancies it is only 

 the cock bird. I am not aware that any naturalist has stated 

 that the hen bird * drums ' as well as the male, but I think I 

 can settle this point in the affirmative, for one day I visited 

 a very small strip of bog, and almost immediately rose the 

 cock bird, which commenced to ' drum ' above and around 



Zi7 



