430 Scolopacidce. 



in America, the Snipe will soon be improved off the face of this 

 country by the rapid advance of high farming. In Wiltshire 

 and the more southern parts of England it is a true migrant, 

 arriving in the autumn and departing in the spring ; but in more 

 northern counties many pairs remain annually to breed in the 

 moors or fens. The shrill alarm cry of this bird, and its peculiar 

 zigzag flight, are too well known to require comment. I may 

 mention, however, that in addition to the sharp scream with 

 which we are all familiar in the winter, it makes a drumming or 

 bleating noise in the breeding season, and hence is called by the 

 French Chdvre volant, and in several other languages words 

 equivalent to the ' Air-goat,' or the ' Kid of the Air.' More 

 poetically it is called in Germany Himmel ziege, or ' Goat of the 

 Heavens ' ; and by many modern authors Capella ccelestis ; and 

 in some parts of England ' Heather Bleater ' and ' Moor Lamb,' 

 the bleating sound being described in Norfolk as 'lambing,' 

 because of its similarity to the bleating of lambs.* But in 

 Norway, where this peculiar note is supposed to resemble the 

 neighing of a horse, it has obtained the appellation of Skodde-Foll, 

 or ' Horse of the Mist ' ; and in some parts of Hors-Gok, or ' Horse 

 Cuckoo,' for, in that land of legends, this bird is indeed believed 

 to have at one period been a veritable steed.-)- It has been much 

 disputed whether this bleating or humming proceeds from the 

 mouth or from the motion of the wings. It seems, however, 

 unquestionable that it only occurs when the bird is descending 

 rapidly with wings shivering or violently agitated. It is also to 

 be noted that rooks, peewits, ring-doves, and black-headed gulls 

 all occasionally produce a loud humming sound with the wings.J 

 Mr. Mitchell, in his admirable little book on the 'Birds of 

 Lancashire,' says Snipes are amongst the earliest risers in the 

 morning, and may often be heard drumming before daylight. 



Christopher Davies' ' Norfolk Broads and Rivers,' p. 13. 



t For the legend referred to, see Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' 

 vol. ii., p. 406. 



See Harting on this subject in ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 190 ; his edition 

 of ' White's Selborne,'' p. 119 ; and in Zoologist for 1881, pp. 198-200. 



'Birds of Lancashire,' p. 186. 



