AVES — SNIPE. 647 



saily known to our sporls.men. During the day they keep to the woods and 

 thickets, and at the approach of evening seek the springs and open watery 

 places to feed in. They soon disperse themselves over the country, to breed. 

 In the hot weather, they descend to the marshy shores of our rivers, their 

 favorite springs and watery recesses inland, being chiefly dried up. To the 

 former of these retreats they are pursued by the merciless sportsmen, flush- 

 ed by dogs, and shot down in great numbers. The woodcock is properly a 

 nocturnal bird, feeding chiefly at night, and seldom stirring about till after 

 sunset; at such times he rises by a kind of spiral course to a considerable 

 height in the air, uttering at times, a sudden quack, till having gained his 

 utmost height, he hovers round in a wild, irregular manner, making a sort 

 of murmuring sound, then descends with rapidity as he rose. When utter- 

 ing his note on the ground, he seems to do it with difficulty, throwing his 

 head towards the earth, and frequently jetting up his tail. Their food con- 

 sists of larvae and other aquatic worms, for which, during the evening, they 

 are almost continually turning over the leaves with their bill, or searching 

 in the bogs. Their flesh is reckoned delicious and prized highly. 



The head of the woodcock is of singular conformation, and the eye is 

 fixed at a remarkable distance from the bill, and high in the head. This 

 construction was necessary to give a greater range of vision, and to secure 

 the eye from injury, while the owner is searching in the mire. The flight 

 of this bird is slow. 



THE SNIPE. 1 



Snipes are migratory birds, which are supposed to breed chiefly in the 

 lower lands of Germany and Switzerland. They visit England in autumn, 

 and retire in the spring. Many, however, remain there the whole year, and 

 make their nests of dried grass and feathers, in the most inaccessible parts 

 of marshes. Our common snipe, usually called the English snipe, dif- 

 fers but little, if at all, from the European snipe. They are most difficult 

 to shoot, of all our birds, as they fly very rapidly, in zigzag lines. They 



' Scolopax galUnago, Lin. 



