THE COMMON SNIPE. 269 



point being doubtless in the mud at the bottom. But once have 

 I observed a snipe on foot busily engaged in feeding : this was in 

 a dam that had been run dry, and into the soft ooze of which the 

 bird drove his bill its full length, and, apparently, every time 

 with success. Indeed, that the whole bill must be often thrust' 

 into the ground is evident even from an inspection of the dead 

 birds in a game-dealer's shop, as we find them marked with 

 mad close up to the eyes, far back as these are situated in the 

 head. It is generally, too, quite hardened on the feathers. The 

 difficulty of seeing snipes on the ground, commented on by Mr. 

 Selby, is indeed remarkable. Among the herbage, I have never 

 been able to detect them ; but have known one person of remark- 

 ably penetrating sight, who could distinguish them anywhere, and 

 under whose direction my first snipe was killed. He distinctly 

 saw it in a drain, and pointed out the spot; but to my sight 

 (though excellent for ordinary purposes) the bird was invisible. 

 Belying on his correctness, 1 fired at the spot to which he pointed, 

 when no bird rising to betoken that life had been there, I 

 imagined he had been mistaken and made me fire at a stone. On 

 going to the place, however, he lifted the poor snipe, which had 

 in this manner been shot dead. Weld, in his ' Travels in North 

 America/ states, that snipes {Scot. Wilsoni) Tire so abundant in 

 some marshy places, that a person by simply firing at the ground 

 may kill them. The one mentioned is the only instance of the 

 kind that has come under my knowledge.* 



Snipe in Breeding -season. — Its Notes. — The snipe breeds very 

 early. On the Belfast mountains, an old sportsman has frequently 

 found the nest containing the full complement of four eggs in 

 the first week of March, and occasionally in the last week of 

 February. About the 1st of March, 1848, snipes were heard 

 bleating at Dromedaragh, and in another district of the county 

 Antrim a nest was discovered on the 18th of the month, by a 

 gentleman who was snipe- shooting, on that and the two pre- 



* Since the above was put in type, I have been credibly informed of twenty-one 

 snipes being killed at a shot by moonlight, at a well during hard frost near Middle- 

 ton (Cork), by a person who knew them to frequent the place. 



