Birds by Land and Sea 



the expression of a wild, earnest joy by sounds 

 which to human ears seem mournful rather than 

 joyous, and therefore unnatural, uncanny, weird. 

 The snipe has another amusing trick in flight ; 

 he will suddenly jerk himself to one side, throw his 

 wings halfway back, and allow himself to fall like a 

 lop-sided shuttlecock, until, as suddenly recovering 

 himself, he sets off again on his circular career. 



The nest, to be found on low, marshy ground, 

 exhibits as little skill in the making as that of the 

 lapwing, consisting of but a few dry grass leaves 

 placed among the rushes or in the shelter of a 

 coarse tuft, and upon these are laid the four eggs, the 

 number of which appears to mark the limit of the re- 

 productive powers of so many of the snipe's kindred. 

 When the nest is approached, the snipe crouches 

 low until the intruder is almost upon him, then 

 starts up with a harsh, rasping cry, and with a 

 violent zigzagging flight mounts aloft, where it 

 continues to circle and repeat its cry until danger 

 is passed. 



On the nth April I found the yellow wagtail 

 back again on the bank of a Derbyshire stream. 

 On the 1 2th of the same month I saw the bird 

 newly arrived at Tatton in Cheshire. On the 

 latter occasion I was watching a pair of pied wag- 

 tails tripping in conjugal complacency about the 

 border of a secluded pool, when the yellow wagtail 

 alighted about a couple of yards from his pied con- 

 geners. Madam immediately faced about, thinking, 



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