OCTOBER 249 



Has it occurred to one of these Welsh wiseacres to examine 

 the pelts of the owls in support of their accusation ? and 

 if so, have the remains of snipe been found in them ? If 

 not, then I claim for the accused a verdict of not guilty. 



Meanwhile, let me suggest a more probable cause for 

 the scarcity of snipes. It so happens that the present 

 season is marked by an extraordinary scarcity of golden 

 plover. There are certain fields in my neighbourhood 

 which are regularly frequented by these pretty birds. In 

 ordinary years I would bet that on any winter day I could 

 show flights there varying in number from a dozen to two 

 or three hundred. These fields lie between my house 

 and the nearest railway station, so I have to pass them on 

 an average at least twice a week. This year I have not 

 seen a single golden plover on them, though curlews 

 are as numerous as usual and lapwings far more so. On 

 the sea-coast there seems to be not one golden plover for 

 twenty that may usually be seen there. Now for the 

 reason. We depend for our winter flights of golden plover 

 upon birds bred near or within the Arctic Circle. Those 

 that were hatched upon our own moorlands are at present 

 far to the south in Spain, Africa, on the Danube, etc. 

 One of the chief breeding-grounds of the northern con- 

 tingent is Iceland, although the lapwing does not resort 

 there to breed ; and I am informed by a friend well ac- 

 quainted with that country of a heavy calamity which 

 overtook the birds there last spring. Three days after the 

 arrival of the main body at the end of April a terrible 

 snow-storm swept across the island. Tens of thousands 

 of golden plover perished. One farmer collected twelve 

 hundred dead on his farm alone. There is no mention of 

 snipes, but it is highly probable that they suffered in 



