Nest, &c. 
Food. 
122 GRALLATORES. SCOLOPAX. SNIPE. 
panied at intervals by a humming or bleating noise, not un- 
like that of a goat, apparently produced by a peculiar action 
of the wings, as the bird, whenever this sound is emitted, is 
observed to descend with great velocity, and with a trem- 
bling motion of the pinions. At this season it soars to an im- 
mense height, remaining long upon the wing; and its notes 
may frequently be heard when the bird itself is far beyond | 
the reach of sight. These flights are performed at intervals 
during the day, but more commonly towards the evening, 
and are continued during the whole time that the female is 
engaged in incubation.—The nest is usually placed under 
the shelter of a bush of heath, or a tuft of rushes in the bogs 
so common upon all our northern moors, and is formed by 
lining a slight depression in the earth with decayed grasses, 
pieces of heather, and other dry materials. The eggs, four 
in number, are of a yellowish-grey, inclining to oil-green, 
blotched with brown of two different shades, and always 
placed, like those of other birds of this order, with the smaller 
ends inwards. The young, as soon as hatched, quit the nest, 
and are then covered with a parti-coloured down of brown, 
white, and yellowish-grey, as shewn in Fig. 4, which repre- 
sents one about eight days old; and this is rapidly succeed- 
ed by a plumage very similar to that of the adults, but 
darker in its shades. ‘The young are attended by the parent 
birds till they are almost fully fledged, and capable of pro- 
viding for themselves. The bill, upon their exclusion from 
the shell, is very short, and does not acquire its full dimen- 
sions for two or three months ; and the young birds may be 
known by the flexibility and tenderness of this member, after 
every other indication of immaturity has disappeared. As 
autumn advances, they begin to change their haunts, and 
descend. to the lower parts of the country, and are then to be 
found in all the fenny districts, in moist pastures, wet stub- 
bles, and, indeed, in every situation likely to afford the re- 
quisite food, viz. worms and insects—obtained in a similar 
manner to the rest of this genus, by probing the soft earth 
