THE COMMON SNIPE. 
269 
point being doubtless in the mud at the bottom. But once have 
I observed a snipe on foot busily engaged in feeding : this was in 
a dam that had been run dry, and into the soft ooze of which the 
bird drove his bill its full length, and, apparently, every time 
with success. Indeed, that the whole bill must be often thrust 
into the ground is evident even from an inspection of the dead 
birds in a game-dealer^s shop, as we find them marked with 
mud close up to the eyes, far back as these are situated in the 
head. It is generally, too, quite hardened on the feathers. The 
difficulty of seeing snipes on the ground, commented on by Mr. 
Selby, is indeed remarkable. Among the herbage, I have never 
been able to detect them ; but have known one person of remark- 
ably penetrating sight, who could distinguish them anywhere, and 
under whose direction my first snipe was killed. He distinctly 
saw it in a drain, and pointed out the spot; but to my sight 
(though excellent for ordinary purposes) the bird was invisible. 
Belying on his correctness, I fired at the spot to which he pointed, 
when no bird rising to betoken that life had been there, I 
imagined he had been mistaken and made me fire at a stone. On 
going to the place, however, he lifted the poor snipe, which had 
in this manner been shot dead. Weld, in his ^ Travels in North 
America,^ states, that snipes [Scol. JFilsoni) are so abundant in 
some marshy places, that a person by simply firing at the ground 
may kill them. The one mentioned is the only instance of the 
kind that has come under my knowledge.* 
Snipe in Breeding -season. — Its Notes . — The snipe breeds very 
early. On the Belfast mountains, an old sportsman has frequently 
found the nest containing the full complement of four eggs in 
the first week of March, and occasionally in the last week of 
February. About the 1st of March, 1848, snipes were heard 
bleating at Dromedaragh, and in another district of the county 
Antrim a nest was discovered on the 1 8th of the month, by a 
gentleman who was snipe-shooting, on that and the two pre- 
* Since the above was put in type, I have been credibly informed of twenty-one 
snipes being killed at a shot by moonlight, at a well during hard frost near Middle- 
ton (Cork), by a person who knew them to frequent the place. 
