SCOLOPAX GALLINAGO. 
Ihe Snipe is a resident in Great Britain, breeding wherever suitable localities are met with from north 
to south. Its numbers are also considerably increased in autumn by arrivals from across the North Sea. 
In the Ilighlands these birds nest out on the moist portions of the open moors, as well as on the 
swamps round the lochs or along the river-sides. Occasionally I have seen the young in low-lying 
haj -fields*, and in the east of Eoss-sliire several pairs resorted to the neighbourhood of the pools on 
the flat sandy waste near Tam, known as the “Pendom.” The patches of rough grass and the dense 
cover about the fens and broads of the eastern counties afford in most instances a secure retreat ; the birds, 
however, that attempt to rear their young on tlio more exposed marshlands on which the Peewit and 
Iledshank annually take up their quarters are not unfrequently robbed of their eggs. A few Snipe still 
breed on the bogs adjoining the springs or streams in some of the large Sussex forests of beech and birch ; 
m the same county a nest or two are also occasionally to be found in the water-meadows bordering the 
course of the sluggish rivers making their way towards the shores of the Channel. 
It is probable that in some districts, if unmolested, two broods are reared during the season. On the 
Fendoni, near Tam, I have seen young birds, apparently five or six days old, as early as the 10th of April 
and a brood was hatched out the same year (18G9) on the 9th of July on the marshy ground to the 
east of Loch Doula, near Lairg ; it was unlikely that, in such a remote locality, the birds had suffered from 
interference. In the south of Scotland, Norfolk, or Sussex it is seldom, according to my own experience, 
that Snipe commence to lay before the second week in April : as a rule, I should think that but onJ 
brood IS brought out in these parts, the late nests occasionally met with having resulted from the first 
set of eggs being taken f . 
The very unpleasant, not to say dangerous, nature of the ground over which the sport has to be 
followed in many districts is a great drawback to the enjoyment of Snipe-shooting. The uncertain footing 
and the possibility that the next step may precipitate one up to the neck into some rotten hole is by 
no means conducive to steadiness of aim J. Considerable experience is needed to step with safety and 
the necessary speed across the waving bog or floating hovers to be met with about many of the NmTolk 
broads; to stand for more than a few seconds on the green roots of the water-plants that alone sustain 
* It frequently happens in the remote Highland glens that no attempt is made to cut the hay till the first or second week in September- 
ample time is consequently afforded for the latest birds to get strong on wing before their haunts are invaded. 
t On the 20th of July, 1871, I put a Snipe from eggs on a marsh in the east of Norfolk ; the ground, however, had been repeatedly searched 
over by egg-stealers, as well as hunted by Buzzards (Marsh-Harriers). 
7 On one of the very best parts of the ronds round Heigham Sounds, in Norfolk, there were several holes from which a stranger unacquainted 
with the spot would stand a poor chance of extricating himself without aid. Of late years tho ground has graduaUy become more firm ; the Snipes 
however, have decreased in numbers. ’ ’ 
