SNIPE. 187 



the wing, which part in the male is elegantly, and regularly spotted 

 with black and reddish white. In both sexes the exterior quill 

 feather is somewhat serrated on the outer edge, but not so manifest 

 as in the Owl ; in the bastard wing, too, of each sex, is a small 

 pointed, narrow feather, very elastic, and much sought after by 

 painters as a pencil. 



These birds inhabit England during the winter, coming in with 

 the Redwings ; those which are then with us, supposed to come 

 from Sweden, their appearance, and departure from thence coin- 

 ciding; seen first the beginning of October, but continue coming 

 till December ; do not arrive in flights, but singly, or at most two 

 together, and chiefly in the evening, or very misty weather;* in 

 general they proceed inland immediately on their arrival ; but should 

 the wind be adverse, and the passage of course difficult, they take 

 a day's rest on the first land they make, and in this case have been 

 met with so fatigued as to be taken with the hand : at first they are 

 generally lean, and not well tasted, till they have had time to recruit 

 themselves ; they appear commonly on the western coasts of this 

 kingdom, and from thence disperse; have been known so plentiful in 

 the Islands of Scilly, that twenty-six couples have been shot in one 

 day,t and about Penzance, in Cornwall, they are sometimes so tame, 

 from fatigue and hunger, as to walk through a house, and many have 

 been knocked down with sticks; about the middle of March all 

 tend towards the coasts for their departure, but if the wind should 

 not be favourable for their flight, multitudes are collected together, 

 and the gunner finds plenty of sport; and perhaps, owing to a 



* Several instances have proved that these birds are attracted by a strong light. The 

 keeper of a light house in Kent, informed me, that he found one in the gallery, with 

 the neck dislocated, having flown in the night against the convex lens of one of the 

 burners. A similar occurrence took place at the light house, at Lowth Hill, on the north 

 side of Dublin Bay ; but in this instance the bird had flown with such violence, as to 

 break its bill, head, breast bone, and both wings. 



f Two gentlemen shot twenty-eight couples at Sandringham, Norfolk, October 1807. 



B b 2 



