140 
THE COMMON SNIPE. 
general weight is from four to five ounces; its length to the 
end of the tail eleven inches and a- half : it has a bill twice 
as long as its head, and from the base of the former to the 
top of the latter passes on each side a broad band of black, 
slightly variegated with pale red, and separated by a narrow 
COMMON SNIPE. 
band of reddish white, giving to the bird a very peculiar 
appearance. Black and brown, wdth grey dusky and light 
red tinges and variegations, are the colours of the j)lumage 
throughout. The markings, like those of the other species 
of this family, are very distinct and characteristic, as are 
also the habits of the birds, of whose haunts Macgillivray 
gives us this pretty cabinet picture : — 
Beautiful are these green woods that hang upon the craggy sides of 
the furze- clad hills, where the Heath fowl threads its way among the 
tufts of brown heath, and the Cuckoo sings his ever-pleasing notes as 
he balances himself on the grey stone, vibrating his fan-like tail. 
Now I listen to the song of the Mountain Blackbird, warbled by the 
great lake that spreads its glittering bosom to the sun, wending far 
away among the mountains, amid whose rocky glens wander the wild 
Deer, tossing their antlered heads on high as they sniiF the breeze 
tainted by the shepherd and his faithful dog. In that recess, formed 
by two moss- clad slabs of mica-slate, the lively "Wren jerks up its 
little tail, and chits its merry note, as it recalls its straggling young 
ones that have wandered among the bushes. From the sedgy slope, 
sprinkled with white cotton-grass, comes the shrill cry of the solitary 
Curlew; and there, high over the heath, wings his meandering way the 
joyous Snipe, giddy with excess of unalloyed happiness. 
