BIRDS IN LONDON 267 



Of an afternoon, snipe would rise up from the 

 bogs, to fall and rise and fall again, emitting 

 their mysterious sound each time, far off and 

 faint, like distant tremulous bleatings of invisible 

 kids wandering lost on invisible mountains. 

 But in the evening, after set of sun, another 

 more fascinating sound would be heard — ^the 

 low, grating, grunting note, as of a hoarse corn- 

 crake, twice or thrice repeated, followed by a 

 burst of sibilant sound, shriU as the scream of a 

 bat or the piercing squeak of a frightened shrew- 

 mouse. This was the evening cry of the 

 woodcock ; and up and down they would fly, 

 " roding " as it is caEed, or " showing off," at the 

 side of a dark high wood ; and whenever one 

 was seen against the clear pale evening sky he 

 looked hke a giant hawk-moth with extended 

 proboscis. One evening as I stood in the shadow 

 of the dark pines, gazing on the ^ expanse of 

 mixed wood, marsh, and heath before me, I 

 Ustened to the cat-like cries of the long -eared 

 owl issuing from the black depths of the wood 

 behind me, while in front woodcocks grunted 

 and whistled ; and at the same time from several 

 distant places came the wandering aerial bleat of 



