THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
further eastward, among the lesser lakes particularly round Lake Lovell 
and Woods Lake.”* 
“ There were not many of this species in the Herbert district, 
[North Queensland] during my visit, hut the few we obtained were among 
the finest and largest I have ever met with.”t 
“ During the spring and summer months these migrants visit the 
swamps at Carrum, Whittleasea and Wirribee, in considerable numbers, 
but owing to their restless habits they seldom remain in one district 
for any length of time, so that sportsmen securing good bags one day 
may search in vain for them the following day. In hot weather they 
lie close, and are easily shot, but on cool and windy days they are very 
wild, rising thirty or forty yards away, and after following a zig-zag 
course for a short distance, dash off out of the district. 
“ Generally a few arrive on September 1st [at Mudgee District, New 
South Wales], but the main body come in the middle of the month, and 
they remain up to February 1st ” (Cox and Hamilton). 
“ This snipe was tolerably plentiful on the open grassy slopes of 
Fujiyama, where I was fortunately able to observe its breeding habits. 
In such localities the birds’ presence could not very well be overlooked 
owing to the very remarkable sounds produced by them during their 
aerial evolutions, which in some respects were analogous to those indulged 
in by other members of the genus. About the middle of May (and doubt- 
less from an earlier date) these were being performed throughout the greater 
part of the day, and it was unusual if one could not observe two or 
three birds overhead at the same time. Like most avine sounds, the 
pecuhar noise made by this species is almost impossible to be described 
on paper. 
“ As the snipe quarters the sky in wide sweeps it gives utterance 
to a very curious rasping sound, which is increased in volume and 
considerably changed as the bird suddenly dives downward preparatory 
to ‘ drumming.’ The first of these discordant cries is a harsh, grating 
Ichha, Miha, kliha, and is being constantly repeated during the round- 
about flight; but when the bird is about to make its downward swoop 
this is altered to a still stranger utterance — a curious kee-oow, kee-oow, 
a sound which I can only liken to the sucking noise sometimes produced 
by water passing through the narrow waste-pipe of the bath. 
“ The ‘ drumming ’ of this species does not differ materially from 
that of G. gallinago, but the ‘ swishing ’ sound is perhaps louder and on 
* Legge, Emu, Vol. IV., p. 104, 1905. 
■j" Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1877, p. 339. 
I Keartland, Birds Melb. Distr., p. 116, 1900. 
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