826 GALLINAGO SCOLOPACINA. 



June, and obtained eggs on the 12tli of the latter month. In the territory of Jakoutsk, North-eastern 

 Siberia, and in Taimyr-land, the breeding-season commences at the beginning of June, and the young are 

 about at the end of July. Von Middendorff writes :— " On the 11th of June a female which we killed contained 

 an egg with an already hard shell ; on the 21st of June a nest with four eggs was found. On the 31st of July 

 the youno we re almost fully feathered, and on the 5th of August the last example of the species seen there 



was shot." 



The nest is placed on the ground, usually in a little depression near a tuft of grass or little earth-mound : 

 and this is lined with c'.ried grass, a few leaves, or sprigs of heather. The eggs vary from three to four in 

 number, and are very variable in colour. A beautiful series of specimens in Mr. Seebohm's collection are 

 respectively greyish stone of various tints, olive-stone, and brownish buff in ground-colour, and vary as much 

 in markings : some have zones of confluent colouring (sienna-red) round the large end, on which another zone 

 of linear markings of black is scribbled ; others have the large end surrounded by clouds and blotches of rich 

 sepia of two shades, with here and there a few streaky marks, while the rest of the egg is richly marked with 

 softened blotches of sepia. Others are rather thickly blotted all over with sepia over bluish-grey spotting*, 

 with inky-black blotches at the top; these are the palest eggs. Some, again, are clouded over the large end 

 with sepia, and very sparingly marked at the small end with the same, with the usual hieroglyphic scribblings 

 at the first-named part. These eggs vary in length from 1-46 to 1"64 inch, and in breadth from T06 to 113 

 inch. Dr. Scully describes the eggs he obtained in Kashgar as being of a dirty olive-green colour, the large 

 end nearly covered with confused blotches of brown and brownish black, and the constricted portion marked 

 with some largish spots of brownish. Dimensions of two specimens l - 58 by Til inch aud 1*58 by 1T3 inch. 



I have referred above to the singular noise made by the Snipe during the breeding-season, which is 

 variously termed "bleating," "neighing," "drumming," and which is made by the bird when, after flying 

 round and round its nest or young, it descends with wings and tail extended, with an apparently tremulous 

 motion of both, its whole frame being at the time in a state of rigidity or extreme tension. Some years ago 

 Kerr Meves, of Stockholm, published a paper detailing an account of some ingenious experiments which he 

 had carried out with a view of proving that the sound was made by the bird's tail-feathers. His theory seems 

 to have obtained general credence on the supposition, apparently, that because a man under certain conditions 

 could succeed in making various sounds with the outer tail-feather of a Snipe, the bird itself must necessarily 

 do the same ! Herr Mcves's experiment consisted in tying the outer tail-feather, which has a sickle-shaped 

 and rather rigid shaft, a narrow outer and a broad inner web, to a wire ^ inch in diameter, lashing the latter 

 to a stick about 5 feet long (whereby he obtained a " play " or " stroke " of about 5 feet), and then moving it 

 backwards and forwards in a horizontal position, accompanied by a tremulous movement of the arm. He thus 

 succeeded in making a noise which he considered was astonishingly similar to that produced by the Snipe. 

 Mr. Hancock, in his valuable catalogue of the birds of Northumberland and Durham (loc. cit.), was apparently 

 the first to point out that the vibrations of the outer tail-feather as made by the Snipe cannot possibly be 

 similar to those made by Herr Meves, and states that he made the same experiments without succeeding in 

 producing the sound in question ; and at the same time aptly remarks that a much nearer approach to it can 

 be made " by waving backwards and forwards, with short strokes, a cane 2 or 3 feet long." The whole 

 matter hinges upon the conditions under which the feather is moved, as also the distance from the ear. It is 

 swayed backwards and forwards, in the manner he described, at a distance, or with a radius, of some 6 or 7 

 feet from the centre of motion ; and of course a whizzing sound can be made, as the feather is stiff and very 

 peculiarly constructed; when it is, however, vibrated by means of a movement in the caudal vertebra? of the bird, 

 the distance of the tip of the feather is only about 4 inches from the centre of motion, and the same sound 

 could not possibly be produced. I have tried the experiment, and have succeeded in making a sharp whizzing 

 noise; but this by no means proves that, under the altered conditions which I have shown to exist, the bird can 

 do the same. Mr. Hancock is of opinion that the sound is produced by the wings, which is a much more rea- 

 sonable hypothesis, as most people are acquainted with the noise that the Lapwing unmistakably thus produces. 

 Prior to reading Mr. Seebohm's notes on the ornithology of Siberia, and conversing with that gentleman on 

 the subject, I was inclined to agree with Mr. Hancock; but I now consider that it is much more likely it is a 

 combined vocal and mechanical sound produced by the bird's bill. He writes (Ibis, 1879, p. 157), concerning 

 the Great or Double Snipe: — "Frequently I have sat partially concealed between a couple of willow bushes 



