BIRDS 377 



with stridulous flight, has frequently conferred a real charm 

 upon some rushy meadowland which had otherwise possessed 

 no interest for any one. Mr. Seebohm's remark that he has 

 never seen or heard of a 'flock ' of Snipe is a little perplexing to 

 a student of Lakeland, which is visited in early autumn and 

 winter by many large ' wisps ' of Snipe ; those that appear on 

 our lowest grounds being chiefly bred on the Scottish hills and 

 the Pennine fells, and resorting to the wet mosses and pools of 

 the low grounds when their own hill-sides are becoming dry 

 and parched up. On the 19th of August 1889 I showed to 

 Mr. Matthew Vaughan the numbers of Snipe which had con- 

 gregated in the half-submerged sedge and mud of Monkhill 

 Lough • then, as on other occasions, the Snipe rose wild and 

 went away in wisps, varying from three or four to thirty birds, 

 and dispersing in all directions, many towering and others 

 wheeling gracefully over the corn-fields, while some others were 

 content to fly restlessly around the margin of the lough. After 

 a short delay they all turned to their favourite ground, coming 

 in as big wisps or in twos or threes, the flocks all dropping 

 into the sedge, each bird hiding up a few feet apart from his 

 neighbour. This happened in dry weather, which induces 

 Snipe to congregate in their most aquatic retreats. In the 

 following October the waters of the lough rose and flooded the 

 Snipe ground, but many of the birds frequented a ' lea-field ' in 

 the immediate vicinity. On the 8th of that month I saw ten 

 Snipe come flying up to the lough, whence they wheeled off to 

 the field just mentioned. Their arrival was due to the fact 

 that a high tide was then submerging Kockliffe salt marsh, 

 from which they repaired to the lough. The salt marshes afford 

 Snipe-shooting in wet weather, but are too much disturbed to 

 be really first-rate at any time. King Garth Island is always 

 a sure ' find ' for Snipe ; in the early hours of a November day 

 I have seen it fairly alive with them. 



JACK SNIPE. 

 Gallinago gallinula (L.). 

 The Jack Snipe has never been a very abundant bird in 

 Lakeland, although occasionally observed in even the summer 



