The Snipes. 463 



around me in a short time. I flushed the 

 hen off her nest of three eggs, and as she 

 left it she dropped the fourth egg, which 

 broke in its fall, and the bird, continuing its 

 flight, struck itself against some posts and 

 rails, and fell stunned to the ground, but 

 soon recovered and flew away. I marked 

 it, and afterwards went and put it up. All 

 this time the male was ' drumming ' over- 

 head, and no other snipes were in the 

 neighbourhood. The female now joined 

 in the ' drumming ' and the two were 

 1 drumming ' for some time, and then 

 they both alighted on the tops of posts, 

 and allowed me to walk quite near them, 

 nodding their heads at me all the while. 

 In this instance, at any rate, I think there 

 can be no doubt whatever that both male 

 and female were ' drumming,' as I walked 

 the small strip of bog out over and over 

 again without flushing another snipe." 



The Common Snipe breeds in Kashmir, 

 but the eggs have not been taken by any 

 competent observer, and there are no 

 eggs of this species in the Hume Collec- 

 tion with the exception of three taken at 

 Yarkand. The late Mr. Brooks, however, 

 satisfied himself that the Common Snipe 

 bred in Kashmir, and we can have no 

 better authority for the statement. 



