THE COMMON SNIPE. 271 



drumming, as I had invariably before noticed, was only produced 

 when a downward wheel was made ; it ceased the instant ascent 

 again commenced. The flight of the snipe is singular and 

 attractive when drumming is part of the performance ; the bird 

 soars, makes a wheel down — like plover when fired at — and 

 drums, then soars again ; occasionally takes a bold sweeping ring 

 of noiseless flight, and then to the soaring and drumming again. 

 This noise is considered to be produced solely by a peculiar action 

 of the wings ;* but I should rather attribute it to the voice of the 

 bird. I cannot imagine any motion of the wings to be heard so 

 audibly at the distance of half a mile, as I have frequently heard 

 this bleating note. The peculiar dive that the bird makes through 

 the air when producing it (whence considered to be caused by 

 the motion of the wings) may be essential for its utterance by the 

 organs of voice. As may be imagined, the bleating of the snipe has 

 obtained for the species additional names in various languages, f as 

 u heather-bleat ;" Gaelic and Irish words signifying " air-goat," 

 or " kid of the air " (mennan aer) ; — in France " chevre volant ;" 

 the celestial goat {Capella ccelestis), too, it has been named.! 



The note — very shrill scream, as Pennant calls it — is dif- 

 ferent at other times, and well compared by Mr. Selby (p. 123) 

 "to the word ckissick lispingly pronounced." This author cor- 

 rectly terms it the " alarm- cry/' but it is something more, for 

 during the evening flight to the feeding-grounds, when the bird 

 is cmite unmolested, this call is commonly uttered. 



Plumage, Sfc. — With reference to plumage, the following note 

 was made "November 16th, 1833. On directing the attention 



* Selby, vol. ii. p. 122. Herbert, ibid. Jardine, 'Brit. Birds,' vol. iii. p. 180. 

 Macgillivray, ' Manual Brit. Birds/ vol. ii. p. 103. 



f The following rhyme, founded on birds having more than one name, is common 

 in some of the country parts of the north of Ireland : — 



" The cuckoo and the gowk, 

 The lavrock and the lark, 

 The heather bleat, the mire snipe, 

 How many birds is that ?" 



\ Rennie's 'Habits of Birds,' p. 245. 



