COMMON SNIPE. 27 



seldom remain long in one situation, moving from place 

 to place, under the regulation of various causes ; so that 

 the sportsman, who has enjoyed excellent Snipe- shooting 

 one day, may find the same spots entirely deserted on the 

 following. Towards the end of March, or beginning of 

 April, Snipes, having nearly perfected their summer or 

 nuptial plumage, select appropriate places for nidification, 

 and the male bird commences his calls of invitation for a 

 mate. These are always uttered upon the wing, and 

 consist of a piping or clicking note, often repeated, and 

 accompanied at intervals by a humming or bleating noise, 

 not unlike that of a goat,* apparently produced by a pe- 

 culiar action of the wings, as the bird, whenever this sound 

 is emitted, is observed to descend with great velocity, and 

 with a trembling motion of the pinions. At this season 

 it soars to an immense 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 com- 

 monly towards the evening, and are continued during the 

 whole time that the female is engaged in incubation." 

 Mr. Selby, who was in Sutherlandshire in the summer of 

 1834, observed that the Common Snipe was very abundant 

 there in all the moory and marshy tracts. 



Sir Humphrey Davy says, " In the heather surrounding 

 a small lake in the island of Hoy, in the Orkneys, I found, 

 in the month of August in 1817, the nests often or twelve 

 couple of Snipes. I was grouse-shooting, and my dog con- 

 tinually pointed them ; and, as there were sometimes three 

 young ones and two old in the nest, the scent was very 

 powerful. From accident of the season, these Snipes were 



* In France, one of the names by which the Common Snipe is known, is 

 that of " Chevre volant." 



