GREAT SNIPE. 239 



able performance in Siberia, where they were very common in the valley 

 of the Koorayika, and soon after their arrival I used sometimes to watch 

 them in the evenings through my binocular. With a little caution I 

 found it very easy to get near them, and frequently, as I sat partially 

 concealed between a couple of willow bushes, I was able to turn my glass 

 on two or three pairs of these birds all within fifteen or twenty yards of 

 me. They had one very curious habit which I noted ; they used to 

 stretch out their necks, throw back the head almost upside down, and open 

 and shut their beaks rapidly, uttering a curious noise like that produced 

 by running the finger along the edge of a comb. This was sometimes pre- 

 ceded by a short flight or by the spreading of the wings and tail. I have 

 never heard the Great Snipe utter any other call or alarm-note. During 

 the breeding-season it is not at all shy, and allows of a near approach ; 

 and when resting it almost permits itself to be trodden upon before rising, 

 which it does with a whirr of the wings, like that of a Grouse, but not 

 so loud. It is a much easier bird to shoot than the Common Snipe, flying 

 much slower and straighter. On the ground it is a very comical-looking 

 object : plump, short legged, it shuffles about, half walking, half running, 

 its bill always depressed, and, however intent it may be on feeding, it is 

 ever on the watch for danger, and always tries to keep behind a bunch of 

 rushes or a clump of sedge. It hides in the long coarse grass on the banks 

 of rivers and lakes during the day, and comes out on the open in the 

 evening, if there be any evening where it happens to live, to feed on worms 

 and various small insects. 



The Great Snipe is a bird of the swamps, but prefers such as have open 

 places of mud or peat or even sand. In these situations it breeds, some- 

 times making its nest in the long grass, but more often in the middle of a 

 hillock of sedge or rushes. A small quantity of moss or dead grass is 

 placed as a lining to the depression where its four eggs are laid. 



The eggs of the Great Snipe are very handsome, and vary in ground- 

 colour from pale greyish buff (sometimes with the faintest possible green 

 tinge) to pale brownish buff, and are spotted and blotched with rich 

 dark brown and paler brown, and with underlying markings of purplish 

 brown and grey. Most of the blotches are distributed round the largest 

 part of the egg, often in an oblique direction, and many of them are con- 

 fluent. Some eggs have the large end covered with a network of streaks, 

 but more often only a few lines are seen. The underlying markings are 

 large, numerous, and very conspicuous. The eggs vary in length from T9 

 to 1-7 inch, and in breadth from T3 to T22 inch. The eggs of the Great 

 Snipe cannot very easily be confused with those of any other British bird. 



The Great Snipe, as its name implies, is rather larger than the Common 

 Snipe, but the two species differ very slightly in colour or markings. The 

 upper parts of both species very closely resemble each other ; but in the 



