COMMON SNIPE. 307 



'humming'. The sound was so peculiar that I 

 stopped to discover, if possible, the cause. As the 

 bird came round ' humming ' within twenty yards of 

 me, I saw through my glasses that two or three 

 feathers of one wing were wanting, and one or two 

 also out of the other. The sound produced was quite 

 a treble compared with the usual sound, which I fancy 

 varies very little. In the afternoon I again heard the 

 same bird, and as there was another with full wings 

 ' humming ' at the same time, the difference was very 

 marked. Several times both birds came within twenty 

 yards, and I noticed that when the noise was made 

 the tail was spread, the wings quivered, and the beak 

 was closed. The very great difference between the 

 sound produced by the bird with the whole wings 

 and that of the one with several feathers wanting ^ully 

 satisfied me that the humming sound is produced by 

 the wings. The tail being spread steadies the bird 

 in its downward flight, and may in some degree add 

 to the sound." 



The Snipe will occasionally, though not often, perch 

 on trees. It feeds chiefly upon earth-worms, which it 

 bores for in the mud with its long slender beak, also 

 on insects, slugs, water-beetles, etc. 



The nest is placed on the swampy ground in a clump 

 of rushes or beneath the stump of a willow. It is a 

 hollow on the ground lined with a little dry grass. 

 Eggs are laid in April and May: they are four in 

 number and exceptionally large for the size of the 

 bird. They vary considerably in colour. A clutch 

 we obtained last year from the water meadows 

 near Queenwood was olive green in ground colour, 

 marked obliquely with rich spots and blotches of dark 

 brown and light brown. Others are greyish or brownish 



