COMMON SNIPE 
walk quite close to them, nodding their heads at him all the while. In this 
instance, at any rate, there could be no doubt whatever that both male 
and female were “ drumming,” for he walked over the small strip of bog 
again and again without flushing any other snipe. 
The curious habit of perching on trees and fences during the breed- 
ing-season is worthy of special note. Messrs Seebohm and Harvie- 
Brown during their journey in Siberia have furnished some interesting 
notes on this subject which will bear repeating : “ We were not a little 
surprised when we first became acquainted with the arboreal habits of 
the snipe at Habarika, and saw one of these birds perched, seventy feet 
from the ground, on the topmost upright twig of a bare larch, where 
one would have thought it could scarcely find sufficient foothold. With 
its head lower than its body and tail, it sat there uttering at intervals 
the curious double ‘ clucking ’ note, tjick-tjuck, tjick-tjuck, whilst others of 
the same species were ‘ drumming ’ high in the air over the marsh. 
To put it all beyond a doubt, Harvie- Brown shot one in this peculiar 
position.” 
Breeding habits . — ^The pairing-time of the snipe varies much according 
to locality and season. In Britain, if the winter is exceptionally mild, 
the birds may commence to mate in February, but the usual time 
is the end of March. In Europe nesting usually begins about the 
middle of April, but fresh eggs may be found from the end of March 
till the middle of May. In high altitudes and high latitudes the date is 
considerably later; for example, in Kashmir the birds do not ap- 
parently begin to lay till May, and in the Arctic regions not until the 
middle of June. 
The breeding -note or love -song of the snipe, chick-a^ chick-a, or tink-a^ 
tink-a, rapidly repeated several times, is uttered both on the ground and 
on the wing, and must not be confused with the “ bleating ” sound 
produced by the tail-feathers when the bird is on its downward flight, 
and at no other time. 
Nesting . — ^The nest, a mere depression in the ground lined with dry grass, 
is usually placed in a bunch of rushes or among coarse grass and heather, 
in or near swampy ground, where the birds are in the habit of feeding. 
In one instance I have seen two nests situated in the same clump of 
herbage, so close to one another that they were only divided by a thin 
fringe of rushes. One nest contained three eggs, the other two, clearly 
indicating that they were the property of two pairs. 
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