SOME BIRD NOTES 253 



SEA-GOING PIGEONS 



A remarkable instance of tame pigeons making daily visits 

 to a lightship came under my notice early in January, 1906. 

 Some eighteen months before, a pigeon, in hazy weather, 

 made its appearance on the St. Nicholas lightship, which is 

 moored a mile and a half from the town. It was fed and, 

 being unmolested, rested awhile and, on the weather bright- 

 ening, flew back to the shore. Not long after it voluntarily 

 returned to the ship, was fed again, and once more went home. 

 It learned to recognise the tin in which some corn was kept, 

 and would soon come aboard when it saw the " signal " 

 flashed by the holding up of the tin above the bulwarks. 

 Shortly after another bird, somewhat shyer, ventured on the 

 trip with it, and was made welcome ; in time, no fewer than five 

 birds made it a daily practice to honour the delighted seamen 

 with their presence. They did not all seem related, although 

 two were probably young birds belonging to the first pair. 

 They always alighted first on the davit-guys, and then 

 descended to the deck to feed, after which they flew away 

 home for the remainder of the day. 



On my button-holing the mate of the St. Nicholas, in 

 December (1906), he assured me that the birds still visited the 

 ship, and that sometimes as many as ten flew aboard ! 



THE DRUMMING OF THE SNIPE 



That there should have been so much dispute as to how 

 the common snipe produces his nuptial drumming in the 

 merry springtime, has always seemed to me to be a rather 

 curious thing. I must confess that the subject did not appeal 

 much to me, for Breydon, with its more interesting migrant 

 wildfowl, has always absorbed my leisure time in the earlier 

 half of the year. But one Sunday afternoon in April, 1906, 

 a male snipe at Herringfleet so forced himself on my notice 

 that I determined, if possible, to satisfy myself once and for 

 all upon this phenomenon. A strange, buzzing sound, very 

 much like that produced by rapidly twirling in the air a 

 notched stick made fast to a piece of string a toy well known 

 to boys attracted my attention. Hiding myself behind a 



