no WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



about it. In ten minutes I could make a simple 

 little affair that would make just such a noise as the 

 Snipe does when he shoots down, so that if you did 

 not know what it was you would fancy a Snipe was 

 humming if you had heard one hum ; and it would 

 hum from the same cause that the bird hums. Little 

 chubby-faced "whapstraws," as I have heard country 

 children in all-round frock and gaiters called, could 

 enlighten some people. 



The Snipe is a very suspicious bird, one that can 

 conceal itself in the most clever manner. The 

 plumage enables it to do this with little trouble. If 

 disturbed when feeding, it will run to some withered 

 tuft and squat, drawing in its neck, and with its bill 

 inclined to the ground ; you might walk over it, if 

 the bird would allow you, without seeing it. When 

 Snipe are feeding in sedge patches that have been 

 cut down, they assimilate with the various tones of 

 colouring that the decayed sedge stumps show, 

 ranging from brown of all shades, and from deep , 

 buffs to cream colour where they are bleached, so 

 that it requires a lot of searching at a very short 

 range to pick them out. I have sprung them from 

 green meadows almost at my feet, yet never saw 

 them squatting, although I was looking for them. 

 Any depression where a cow or a horse has left its 

 mark on the meadow will be enough to hide the 

 Snipe. 



No matter how many birds may be about, you 

 will always flush them singly, not far apart, at times 

 certainly only a yard or two. The nature of their 



