338 SCOLOPAC1D;E. 



second week of September, 1835 ; four of these birds were in 

 pairs, and proved male and female respectively." When 

 flushed it occasionally utters a short harsh cry of alarm, 

 although more frequently it rises in silence, and it appears 

 to have no regular call-note except in spring. 



At the pairing season, as we learn from the observations 

 of Mr. Greiff and Mr. E. Collett, the Great Snipe has a Ick 

 or playing-ground, similar to that of some of the Grouse- 

 tribe, the places of meeting, or Spil-pads, being frequented 

 by several pairs of birds from dusk to early morning. The 

 male utters a low note resembling lip bip, bipbip, bipbiperere, 

 biperere, varied by a sound like the smacking of a tongue, 

 produced by striking the mandibles together smartly and in 

 rapid succession ; he then jumps upon a tussock of grass, 

 swelling out his feathers, spreading his tail, and drooping 

 his wings in front of the female, and uttering a tremulous 

 sbirrr. This is called ' drumming ' by Mr. Collett, but the 

 late Mr. Dann says that the birds fly to a great height and 

 produce a drumming noise as they descend by a slight and 

 peculiar vibration of the wings. The males fight by slashing 

 feebly with their wings, but the combat is not of long duration. 



The nest is a mere depression, or a hole scraped in the 

 moss in some hillock or tussock above the level of the 

 marsh, and the eggs are four in number. As a rule they 

 are of a pale olive-grey or stone-buff with pale purplish 

 underlying blotches, and bold purplish-brown surface-mark- 

 ings, this colour being unmistakable and characteristic ; but 

 at times there is a greenish tint which renders it difficult to 

 distinguish them from some eggs of Machetes pug mix, to 

 which species indeed most of the so-called Great Snipes' eggs 

 taken in Holland should really be ascribed. They measure 

 about 1*8 by 1'2 in., being much larger than eggs of the 

 Common Snipe, and very different in general appearance.* 

 In one instance Messrs. Godman found, on returning to a 

 nest they had previously visited, that the bird whilst sitting 



* A supposed instance of the breeding of the Great Snipe in Norfolk in April, 

 1846 (Zool. p. 3175), maybe rejected ; the date is improbable, and the egg agrees 

 with that of the Common Snipe. (Cf. Stevenson, B. Norfolk, ii. p. 300.) 



