142 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
COMMON SNIPE. 
GALLINAGO C@&LESTIS, F'renz. 
Pl. XXL, fig. 2. 
Geogr. distr—Europe and Asia; ranging into Northern Africa, the 
islands of the Bay of Bengal and the Philippines. Resident in Great 
Britain, and to be met with in all suitable localities; more abundant 
in Ireland than in Scotland or England, on account of the nature of 
the country. 
Food.—Insects, worms and Mollusca. 
Nest.—A mere rounded depression in the ground, lined with dried 
grasses or other herbage. 
Position of nest.—Amongst grass or rushes. 
Number of eggs.—4. 
Time of nidification.—IV-VII. 
The Snipe is far less abundant in winter than in spring 
and autumn. It occurs in low woods, damp pastures, and 
marshy places, either singly, in couples, or small companies. 
Its usual cry is a succession of two or three tremulous 
piping notes, but in the breeding season it makes a sound 
something like the hum of a bee. 
Mr. Howard Saunders says that ‘‘the feeding-ground of- 
the Snipe is by the sides of land springs, or in water 
meadows; and in low flat countries they are frequently 
found among wet turnips. The holes made with their bills, 
when searching for food, are easily traced. The end of the 
beak of the Snipe, when the bird is alive, or if recently 
killed, is smooth, soft, and pulpy, indicating great sensi- 
bility. If the upper mandible be macerated in water for 
a few days, the skin, or cuticle, may be readily peeled off. 
The external surface presents numerous elongated, hexa- 
gonal cells, which afford at the same time protection to, 
and space for the expansion of, minute portions of nerves 
supplied to them by two branches of the fifth pair; and the 
end of the bill becomes, in consequence of this provision, a 
delicate organ of touch, to assist these birds when boring 
for their food in soft ground.” —(Yarrell’s Hist. Brit. Birds, 
4th ed., vol. 11., pp. 846, 347.) 
The Snipe is generally distributed throughout Great 
Britain, breeding in all marshy localities, though less 
abundantly in England than in either Scotland or Ireland. 
The nest is usually placed in a clump of sedge, coarse 
grass, or rushes. When flushed from its eggs this bird 
lies off without uttering any cry. 
