270 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
beating its wings, while swelling out the body- 
feathers beneath them into a kind of cushion, a 
feature of the performance which also seems to 
point to some such resonator being necessary. The 
Snipe generally nests in April, the nest being a 
slight cup or lining of dry grass, placed inside a 
tussock of grass or rushes. The four handsome 
eggs have the characteristic pointed shape of all 
this large family, and are very big for the size of 
the bird, being larger than an average Partridge's. 
They vary from medium olive-green to light 
brownish-buff in ground-colour, and are richly 
spotted and blotched with several shades of brown. 
Usually the markings run obliquely round the egg 
in a sort of eddy, or spiral ; this very beautiful 
effect is occasionally seen in the eggs of other 
species, and is probably due to the rotatory motion 
of the egg while the colours are being applied to 
the shell in the egg-producing organs. The ex- 
treme sensitiveness of the Snipe's long bill may be 
perceived from the numerous small pores which 
indent it at the tip. The flight of the Snipe is 
very swift and zig-zag, and when it is flushed it 
utters the familiar double note which is generally 
rendered as "scape, scape." Its plumage of 
mottled buffs and browns is too familiar to need 
close description ; but the two long buff stripes 
which run from the base of the bill, back over 
