BIRD LIFE, ETC. 169 



the mud. Although it was soft, very few footmarks 

 were left ; but the place was covered with numberless 

 small holes made by their bills, and forming little 

 groups, as if made by the individual birds separately. 

 Of these impressions very many were mere hollows 

 not larger than those on a thimble, and not half a 

 twelfth of an inch deep ; others scarcely perceptible, 

 while a few were larger, extended to a depth of two- 

 twelfths ; and here and there one or two to the depth 

 of nearly half an inch. On scraping the mud I could 

 perceive no worms or shells. It is thus clear that 

 they search by gently tapping, and it appears that 

 they discover the object of their search rather by the 

 kind of resistance which it yields than by touch like 

 that of the human skin. British Birds, vol. iv. 

 p. 210. 



20. THE COMMON SNIPE. 



Beautiful are those green woods that hang upon the 

 craggy sides of the fern-clad hills, where the heath-fowl 

 threads its way among the tufts of brown heath, and the 

 cuckoo sings his ever -pleasing notes as he balances 

 himself on the grey stone, vibrating his fan -like tail. 

 Now I listen to the simple song of the mountain 

 blackbird, warbled by the quiet lake that spreads its 

 glittering bosom to the sun, winding far away among 

 the mountains, amid whose rocky glens wander the wild 

 deer, tossing their antlered heads on high as they snuff 

 the breeze tainted with the odour of the slow -paced 



