518 PANURIDjE. 



To the foregoing accounts even the long and intimate 

 acquaintance with this species enjoyed by Mr. Stevenson 

 enabled him to add but little that is new. It would seem to 

 begin to build its nest about the end of March, and he has 

 known the full number of eggs laid by the 7th or 8th of 

 April*. As soon as the breeding-season is over these birds 

 collect in flocks and perform short migratory trips from one 

 broad to another in search of food, the flocks containing in 

 sharp weather as many as forty or fifty, or even more. At 

 this season the bird will visit localities in which it does not 

 breed, such as the marshes at Cley and Blakeney on the 

 seacoast. " When shooting at Surlingham in the winter 

 months ", he says, " I have more than once observed the 

 arrival of a flock from some neighbouring broad, their 

 presence overhead being indicated by the clear ringing sound 

 of their silvery notes, uttered preparatory to their pitching 

 into the nearest reed bed, and in autumn, after roosting in 

 small parties on the reeds, they will fly up simultaneously 

 soon after sunrise, swarming like a flock of bees ; and 

 uttering in full chorus their pretty song, disperse themselves 

 over the reed beds for their morning's meal. Delicate as 

 these little creatures appear, I have found them during the 

 sharpest frosts, when the snipe had left the half frozen 

 waters for upland springs and drains, still busy amongst the 

 reed stems, as lively and musical as ever." 



Mr. Blyth's remarks, already mentioned, on the habits of 

 this species in captivity, require further notice. He found it 

 to be hardy, thriving on almost any kind of food, garrulous, 

 extremely fond of society, and unceasingly active, often 

 hanging by one leg to the top of the cage, scratching the 

 head of its fellow-prisoners, and even teaching them to return 

 the good office. He noticed also that it frequently places 

 one foot upon its food while picking the morsel to pieces, 



* Second broods are no doubt often if not usually produced. The Editor, in 

 the beginning of June, 1873, was shewn, at Ranworth Broad, fresh eggs which 

 could not have been taken very long. At this season the birds are not easily 

 observed, owing to the thickness of the reed-beds they frequent, while their note 

 is then a very feeble chirp and seldom uttered. 



