THE COMMON SNIPE. 
271 
drumming^ as I had invariably before noticed, was only produced 
when a downward wheel was made ; it ceased the instant ascent 
again commenced. The flight of the snipe is singular and 
attractive when drumming is part of the performance ; the bird 
soars, makes a wheel down — hke plover when fired at — and 
drums, then soars again ; occasionally takes a bold sweeping ring 
of noiseless flight, and then to the soaring and drumming again. 
This noise is considered to be produced solely by a peculiar action 
of the wings but I should rather attribute it to the voice of the 
bird. I cannot imagine any motion of the wings to be heard so 
audibly at the distance of half a mile, as I have frequently heard 
tliis bleating note. The peculiar dive that the bird makes through 
the air when producing it (whence considered to be caused by 
the motion of the wings) may be essential for its utterance by the 
organs of voice. As may be imagined, the bleating of the snipe has 
obtained for the species additional names in various languages, t as 
heather-bleat Gaelic and Irish words signifying “ air-goat,” 
or kid of the air ” (mennan aer) ; — in France chevre volant 
the celestial goat {Cajpella coelestis), too, it has been named. J 
The note — very shrill scream, as Pennant calls it — is dif- 
ferent at other times, and well compared by Mr. Selby (p. 123) 
“io the word chissick lispingly pronounced.” Tliis author cor- 
rectly terms it the alarm- cry,” but it is something more, for 
during the evening flight to the feeding-grounds, when the bird 
is quite unmolested, this call is commonly uttered. 
Plumage, ^c. — With reference to plumage, the following note 
was made '^November 16th, 1833. On directing the attention 
* Selby, vol. ii. p. 122. Herbert, ibid. Jardine, ‘Brit. Birds,’ vol. iii. p. 180. 
MacgiUivray, ‘ Manual Brit. Birds,’ vol. ii. p. 103. 
t The following rbyme, founded on birds having more than one name, is common 
in some of the country parts of the north of Ireland: — 
“ The cuckoo and the gowk. 
The lavroek and the lark, ^ 
The heather bleat, the mire snipe. 
How many birds is that ?” 
I Rennie’s ‘Habits of Birds,’ p. 245. 
