158 
The Irish Naturalist. 
Oct., 
being far away and generally both birds doing it together. 
It does not carry far. (4) Then there is the repeated 
chuck chuck which is used both as an alarm to the young 
and a call to them. In the latter case it is very low ; in 
the former it may at times be stronger but not nearly as 
strong as the Snipe's similar call. On flushing the bird at 
any place it seems to make one such low chuck. It appears 
to be naturally the female which uses this note most, but 
both parents use it. (5) Finally there is a low bubbling 
note of the same nature as the song, audible perhaps 50 
yards away. This note has been used by both birds within 
a few feet of me. It has been made by the parents near 
the young, and by the male (perched or lying) making his 
first call or visit to the sitting mate. Thus no note is 
peculiar to one parent. 
The male roosts either in trees or on the bog — it seemed 
mostly the latter — on a dry bare spot well indicated by a 
foot circle dotted with many-coiled whitish spherical excre- 
ment about |-inch diameter. In the cases observed, the 
bird roosted any distance up to 200 yards or even more 
from the nest, but when chicks came out it appeared 
to roost closer for a while ; on a couple of occasions in the 
first fortnight being right beside the female. 
Nearly all the observations which I made are confined 
to about the first hour of the evening : in May to the 
first ten minutes, and in early August to the first half- 
hour. I cannot vouch for the early hours of the morning. 
The bird leaves its roost from 9.50 p.m. (summer time) in 
end of Ma}^ to 10.25 early in July and back to 9.30 early 
in August. It begins by flying very low, skimming the 
lowest ground along the shadows or low bog banks. It can 
thus in quite fair light leave its nest in short heather within 
25 yards of a crouching observer without being noticed, 
unless one is well situated for a sky line. It is puzzHng 
to hear the whistles and see nothing. After five minutes 
or so they fly more freely. The flight may. on the whole 
be described as tern-hke, there being much hovering and 
diving with wings pointed up. I have on occasion seen 
them soar up for a few seconds like a Snipe. Walking 
appears foreign to the bird. I have never seen it done. 
Even for a yard it flies ; and the nestling seems to do the 
same (see below, p. 160). It perched and sang several times 
