701 A TAME SNIPE. 



mutton. Worms having been procured, she soon commenced feeding herself, and 

 eventually would follow Mr. Upham round the room for a worm. Her bath is a good- 

 sized pie-dish, her salle a manger an eight-inch flower-pot, and her amusement probing a 

 large damp sod of rushes placed for her fresh every day on a good thick piece of brown 

 paper. 



We were three of us who went to see her on Wednesday, the 2fth ult. On our 

 entering the parlour where she is allowed to run about, she evinced no alarm, and 

 presently commenced feeding. The upper mandible of a Snipe's bill being a little longer 

 than the under one, it was with some perseverance and some difficulty that she picked up 

 from the carpet a worm which was thrown to her. Except when she is very hungry, she 

 generally washes the worms before eating them. The flower-pot is half full of earth and 

 worms ; it is placed on its side. The Snipe, when she feeds, probes the earth for a worm ; 

 having caught one, she carries it to the pie-dish. After carefully washing it, she disables 

 the worm by pinching it all over with the tip part of her bill ; then she takes it by the 

 middle and throws it back to swallow, in doing which the head of the worm is on one 

 side of the bill and the tail on the other The head and tail soon disappear, and the 

 worm goes down double, even if it be as thick as a gaose-quill. 



The Snipe constantly goes in and out of the pie-dish, and probes round at its bottom 

 with her bill. She frequently washes herself, throwing the water ,jver her back and 

 flapping and splashing it with her wings, after which she comeb out of the dish and 

 preens her feathers, spreading her tail like a fan, bending it round with great flexibility 

 in a curious manner, and keeping it in constant motion. She is very fond of the fire, and 

 stands before it on one leg for hours together. She has on two or three occasions 

 exhibited symptoms of impatience at confinement by flying against the window ; on the 

 last occasion she flew against the ceiling of the room with some violence, and came down 

 much hurt, so that the feathers of one of her wings have been cut. 



Mr. Upham is getting a place made to collect and store worms ; her consumption of 

 them is almost incredible, for she consumes in twelve hours nearly double her own 

 weight. Three sorts of worms she takes, the dew-worm, and two other small red sorts, 

 the names of which are unknown to me ; the brandling, the lobb, the gilt-tail, or indeed 

 any worm from a dung heap, she will not touch. She is also very fond of snails' eggs, 

 very small young snails, woodlice, or small planorbis, and several other fresh-water shells, 

 eating shell and all ; she also picks up gravel like other birds. I watched the bird for 

 more than an hour, and saw her eat more than twenty worms. The pie-dish is a blue one, 

 and as it was thought to be not quite deep enough for her, a larger one was searched for ; 

 but Starcross could not furnish a larger blue dish, so a yellow one was bought, but she 

 would not go near it ; it was even banked up with turf, but it would not do, so the old 

 blue pie-dish was brought back to her again. Mr. Upham is keeping a diary, and notes 

 down the habits and peculiarities he observes in his pet Snipe ; he much fears she will 

 not survive the ensuing summer. I was so much interested that I hope to pay the Snipe 

 another visit very soon." 



The nest of the Snipe is a simple heap of leaves placed under the shelter of a tuft 

 of furze, heath, or grass, and the eggs are four in number of an olive-white, spotted and 

 dashed with brown of different tones towards and upon the large end. The mother-bird 

 nas been known to carry away her young when threatened by danger. 



The colouring of the Common Snipe is briefly as follows : The top of the head is 

 dark brown, a light brown streak runs along the centre, the cheeks are pale brown with 

 a dark streak from the bill to the eye, and over the dark streak is another of a paler hue. 

 The back is beautifully mottled with two shades of brown, and four bold lines of warm 

 buff run along the upper surface of the body. The wings are black, some of the feathers 

 being tipped with white. The chin is very pale brown, the neck is also light brown, but 

 spotted with a darker hue, the breast and abdomen are white and the flanks grey- 

 white with dull black bars. The under tail-coverts are cream-coloured with a brown 

 tinge and barred with grey-black. The average length of the Snipe is between ten and 

 eleven inches. 



