THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
more or less covered with bushes. It nests in a dry, grassy place ; the nest 
is a little hoUow lined with dried grass. Like all other Snipe it sits closely 
on four eggs, so closely that one can almost walk on it. Near its young it is 
very courageous and tries to lead one away by fluttering along the ground. 
We found the eggs in June, and the bird often remains till October. When 
flying it makes a humming noise by which it is easily recognised. 
“ The male rises in a manner like that of a Snipe, and after having 
described vast circles above the place where the female is, he darts down in 
an oblique direction, making (probably with his tail feathers like our Snipe) 
a loud noise. This noise gains in strength, the nearer it approaches the earth, 
stops a short distance from the ground, and the bird continues its flight, 
repeating a sound like TiriJc, Tirilc, Tirik. 
“ These evolutions last till the end of June, being most noticeable in the 
morning and evening, but during fine weather they may often be heard in 
the middle of the day, and during the night. This bird is an earfler riser than 
the others, and begins its movements the first. 
“ According to Nikolski this Snipe appears to nest in the southern and 
central parts of the island of Saghahen.”* 
“ This is the Great Snipe of China. I found it on the marshes near 
Peking in September. At the close of the same month it passes down the 
coast, bemg found at Shanghai, Amoy and Canton for a few days only, and 
apparently bound further southwards. At the end of April and beg innin g of 
May it occurs on South China again for a few days and is then bound north. 
During the season of its migration, I procured it also in S.W. Formosa.”t 
“ They generally occur smgly, but I have put up two or three at a time. 
When flushed, they rise, somewhat clumsily, with a loud cry and hurry away 
with a low almost straight flight. 
“ Arrives at Foochow towards the end of March and remains till the 
beginning of May. The autumn passage begins about the middle of August 
and the birds are fairly abundant throughout September and part of October. 
At Swatow, strange to say, this Snipe is almost unknown. I only saw one 
during the two years that I spent at that port ; it was shot in April by my 
shooting-boy, some distance up the Keyong River.”§ 
“ Breeds abundantly on the marshes and lakes in the Hoang-ho Valley. 
We also noticed some of the present and preceding species (GalUmigo 
heterocerca) in the western portion of the Urot country, where they probably 
were breeding. 
* Taozanowski, M6m. VAcad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersb,, Ser. VII., Vol. XXXIX., p. 958, 1893. 
f Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1863, p. 314. 
{ id.. Ibis 1863, p. 416. 
§ La Toudie, ib. 1892, p. 498. 
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