The Snipes. 461 



and obliquely through the air. Let me 

 describe the ' drumming ' of the snipe. 

 We enter the marsh, and before we have 

 gone very far we become conscious of 

 a series of clicking sounds like jick- 

 juck, jick-juck, jick-juck) rapidly repeated, 

 which apparently proceed from some 

 creature on the ground. We follow these 

 up, and as we draw near, what should 

 rise just in front of us but a veritable 

 common snipe, which, after flying some 

 distance, rises up in the air uttering the 

 same peculiar notes which first attracted 

 our attention. As we watch it rising up- 

 ward it is repeating these vocal notes all 

 the time, but after attaining a sufficient 

 altitude it suddenly turns, and with wings 

 shaking or trembling, and tail widely spread, 

 the feathers of which seem to be turned 

 somewhat sideways and are distinctly seen 

 to be vibrating, the bird shoots rapidly 

 and obliquely downwards for some dis- 

 tance, and it is then whilst it is making 

 this sudden swoop that the peculiar sound 

 called ' drumming ' is heard. Those who 

 have heard this peculiar sound in the 

 distance, say, on a still summer's evening, 

 with the birds in the sky invisible, may 

 well be excused for likening the sounds 

 to the bleating of a lamb on some distant 



