THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
the hens. The chief point about this display is that the tail is spread out 
like a fan and moved up and down, as if the bird was anxious to do some- 
thing with its tail, but did not quite know how to set about it. In this wise 
the pure white outer tail-feathers are shown to the admiring gaze of the 
opposite sex. In view of the fact that the performance takes place on the 
ground, and that there are no specialized structures, in either the wing or 
the tail, which could possibly serve as musical instruments, we are forced 
to conclude that the sounds made by this snipe too, must be vocal in origin. 
It has always seemed to me a remarkable thing that some of the 
Scolopacin<B should have such specialized musical instruments in their 
wings or tail, and that others, although in form and anatomical features 
apparently so closely allied, should have to depend upon their vocal organs 
for giving vent to their feelings during the breeding-season.” [cf. Bull. 
Brit. Orn. Club, xxix, p. 79 (1912)]. 
Nest and eggs . — ^The nest is usually placed among long grass or in the 
middle of a tuft of rushes, and is a mere depression in the ground lined 
with moss and dead grass. The full complement of eggs is four. They are 
of a pyriform or sometimes oval shape, longer and considerably wider 
than those of the common snipe, and have the ground-colour pale greyish - 
buff or brownish-buff, sometimes faintly tinged with green. The bold 
blotches and spots of rich Vandyke-brown or pale brown, and the under- 
lying markings of purplish -grey are mostly distributed round the larger 
end, where they are often confluent, and are generally obliquely directed 
from left to right. The average dimensions are 1*8 in. by 1*27 in. 
General habits . — ^The great snipe is usually found in drier situations 
than those inhabited by the common snipe, and it may be met with in 
grass- or clover-fields or among potato- and turnip-fields, as well as in 
heather, and in Corfu commonly in currant plantations. As a rule it 
is found singly, or at most, in pairs, and is a very silent bird, uttering 
no cry as it rises somewhat heavily from the ground. 
W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT. 
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