XXXII. 

 SCOLOPAX GALLINAGO. (unn.) 



Snife, Snippuc, or Hoarse Gowk. 



The Snipe is most commonly to be met with in low, 

 marshy, and boggy grounds, and in such situations a few of 

 them breed in most parts of this country ; it is, however, ex- 

 ceedingly difficult, in describing the usual breeding place of 

 any bird, to limit it to any particular situation. In confir- 

 mation of this, I met with several nests of the Snipe during 

 the present summer, affording so great a deviation from their 

 usual position that I was strongly inclined to doubt their 

 identity, till I had proved it. They were upon Foula, the 

 most westerly of the Shetland Islands, against the dry heathy 

 side of a steep hill, and at an elevation of not less than from 

 500 to 1,000 feet above the marshy plain. 



The Snipe builds its slight nest amongst rushes or heath, 

 or in a clump of giass, making no farther preparation for its 

 eggs than by scratcliing together a few bits of the same ma- 

 terials in a hollow of the ground ; the eggs are always (as far 

 as I have been able to ascertain) four in number ; though the 

 Rev. Mr. Low, in his Fauna Orcadensis, mentions particu- 

 larly his liaving " several times found six ;'' the only way in 

 which this can be accounted for, is by supposing tlmt two 

 birds must have laid their eggs in the sSme nest, as the Snipe 

 forms one of that class of Waders which, I think, invariably 

 lay four eggs, formed and disposed in the nest, as I have before 

 stated, of the Peewit and Common Sandpiper, so as to meet 

 in the centre and occupy the least space possible. 



The size of the egg is also a strong argument against its 

 laying more than four, and a very remarkable production for 

 so small a bird, being as large as that of the Pigeon and of 

 the Rook, and considerably larger than those of the Magpie 



