COMMON SNIPE. 29 



water meadows; and in low flat countries they are fre- 

 quently found among wet turnips. A writer in the Maga- 

 zine of Natural History, describing their mode of feeding, 

 as observed by himself with a powerful telescope, says, u I 

 distinctly saw them pushing their bills into the thin mud, 

 by repeated thrusts, quite up to the base, drawing them 

 back with great quickness, and every now and then shifting 

 their ground a little. 11 The holes made with their bills, 

 when thus searching for food, are easily traced. In my 

 own communication on the subject of Snipes, published in 

 Mr. London's third volume, I described a peculiarity in the 

 beak of all the species of the genus Scolopax. The end of 

 the beak of a Snipe, when the bird is alive, or if recently 

 killed, is smooth, soft, and pulpy, indicating great sensi- 

 bility ; but some time afterwards it becomes dimpled like 

 the end of a thimble. If the upper mandible be macerated 

 in water for a few days, the skin, or cuticle, may be readily 

 peeled off; and the bones thus laid bare exhibit an appear- 

 ance, of which the engraving here introduced is a magnified 

 representation. 



The external surface presents numerous elongated, hexa- 

 gonal cells, which afford at the same time protection, and 

 space for the expansion, of minute portions of nerves supplied 

 to them by two branches of the fifth pair ; and the end of 

 the bill becomes, in consequence of this provision, a delicate 

 organ of touch, to assist these birds when boring for their 

 food in soft ground ; this enlarged extremity of the beak, 



