SELBORNE AND WOLMER^ FOREST 87 



ducks in some of the furthest and driest parts of the 

 forest. About a hundred yards from the marsh was 

 a teal's nest. She had hatched her young the day 

 before, but two eggs remained, of a pale ivory colour, 

 and the nest, which was placed in deep heather under 

 a seedling fir, was beautifully made of moss and 

 speckled down from the bird's breast, which exactly 

 matched in colour the lichen-covered heather. Had 

 we risen at daybreak, we might perhaps have met the 

 bird taking her tiny brood down to the water. A 

 wild duck's nest was found on a steep, heather-clad 

 hill, quite a mile from the water. There are few 

 more difficult nests to find than that of a wild duck 

 on a heath. But in this case a single breast-feather 

 gave the clue needed, and after careful search a track 

 was found winding among the heather-stems to a thick 

 patch under the overhanging boughs of a young pine, 

 beneath which was the nest. The eggs had been 

 hatched for some time, and all the broken shells were 

 buried beneath a layer of down. In a wet hollow near 

 the outskirts of the forest was a snipe's nest. These 

 birds are far less common there than formerly, owing, 

 it is said, to the turf being no longer cut for fuel, so 

 that there is less fresh ground exposed for them to feed 

 upon. The nest was simply a round hollow in a wet 

 tussock ; but when their brood is hatched, the snipes 

 are said to be most affectionate parents. This par- 

 ticular pair are said to have nested in the same place 

 last year. Some men employed to dig sand close by 

 were surprised to see a snipe fly up, which, after show- 



