56 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



on several occasions in the month of July 1884 he 

 saw young Snipes barely able to fly. On this subject 

 Morton, at p. 428 of his ' Natural History of North- 

 amptonshire,' says, " as to Snipes, some few of them 

 yearly stay, and, as I am told, breed with us upon 

 Long-Buckby Heath. 'Tis certain they have more 

 than once been flush'd upon Pisford Heath, and 

 thereabouts, in the very midst of summer." 



The favourite breeding-haunts of the Snipe are 

 moorlands and undrained sedge fens, but I know 

 of many instances of their nesting in a tussock of 

 rushes in well-drained meadow lands. The nest 

 consists of a few stalks of bents or other grasses, and 

 however moist its surroundings may be, is always 

 placed in some dry spot. 



The complement of eggs is four ; for a description 

 of them I must refer my readers to the many writers 

 more gifted with the power of dealing verbally with 

 shades of colour than myself. 



Snipes generally lay during the first fortnight of 

 April, sit about sixteen days, and very often rear 

 a second brood. The aerial evolutions of these birds 

 at pairing-time and the sounds then produced by 

 them are most remarkable, and have been the subject 

 of much, more or less learned, contention amongst 

 ornitholooical authors. 



o 



If the w^eather is fine and sunny in the early part 

 of March the Snipe, on rising from the ground, 

 instead of giving forth its usual alarm-note, so 

 commonly known as " scape," utters a low dissyllabic 

 chuckle, to my ears best described as " cheevuck, 

 cheevick,'' and suddenly darts up into the air, often 

 to a very great height, and flies in wide circles, now 

 and then stooping like a Falcon towards the earth 



