290 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



is always moist. And upon a small patch of such no man's 

 land a dozen often congregate, and feed and sleep the live- 

 long day. At times he is more adventurous, as I have said, 

 accompanying the whole snipe ; but he is at all times hard to 

 shoot if not allowed to steady his dainty little morsel of a 

 body ; and in a breeze of wind he is well-nigh impossible. 



On a cold night in autumn you may walk down to a spongy 

 marsh, and wait, perhaps, for the flighting of wild duck from 

 the sea, half-buried as you are in a rush knot bordering a 

 slad, suddenly, in the growing chilly dusk, you may be roused 

 by a rustling of wings, and a flock of jack-snipe dart sud- 

 denly down into the slad. They come and go like restless 

 spirits. The night seems to be their favourite season for 

 ranging from marsh to marsh. Often in the dark winter 

 evenings, as you hide in an old eel-boat, lost amongst the 

 yellow reeds, you may see a jack flighting across just above 

 the reed tops, or else flying high overhead near the winter 

 stars, but seldom in pairs. 



Though shy, the wily fenman traps the jack as well as the 

 full snipe. Stealing forth in the cold evenings, he searches 

 the likely marshes for spoor and the frothings of bibblings. 

 There he sets his springe, as " fickle " or " slim " as he can, 

 just underneath the water, having first " riled" the water, or 

 stirred up the dregs to foul the pure surface, so that when the 

 water settles and purifies the fine silt will settle on the trap 

 and hide the iniquitous " steel-fall," or common steel rat- 

 trap. And many a fenman gets four or six birds in this 

 unholy manner between the winter evening and the winter 

 sunrise. Still they are good on toast que voulez vous ? 



THE GREAT, SOLITARY, OR "SOLINGTARY" SNIPE, 



As the fenmen call him, is a rare bird now-a-days in the fens, 

 though formerly reported to be common. 



He is a cunning fellow, and never betrays his succulent 

 carcase by scaping sillily when he is flushed from the soft 



