THE TRUE SNIPES. 
219 
expanded and visibly-vibrating wings, but with outspread tol, 
uttering a sound which is technically called ‘drumming. The 
sound is only heard when the bird is descending, but some 
observers assert that they have heard it proceeding trorn a 
Snipe on the ground, or perched on a dead branch. It has 
been likened to the bleating of a Goat, and bears some re- 
semblance to the suppressed gobble sometimes heard from 
a Turkey. Great difference of opinion exists as to the means 
by which this sound is produced. Bechstein and many sub- 
sequent writers have argued that it proceeds from the fbroat. 
Naumann, Macgillivray, Hancock, Saxby, J.ardine, Blyth, and 
others have maintained that it is caused by the rapid vibration 
of the wings. Altum, Meves, and most modern ornithologists 
find the musical note in the rush of air through the stiff feathers 
of the outspread tail. I have listened to the drumming of the 
Snipe scores of times with the express purpose of discovering 
the mode in which the sound is produced, and must confess 
myself completely puzzled. Arguing from analogy (a very 
danc^erous proceeding, by the way, in ornithology), I should 
say ?t was produced by the vocal organs, and is analogous to 
the trill of the Stints and other Sandpipers. The fact that it 
appears to begin the instant the bird begins to descend in- 
clines me to think that, after allowance is made for the 
time it takes for sound to travel, it must really begin before 
the descent, whilst the bird is not moving very rapidly. 
Hest This is generally placed in a clump of rushes or 
sedge, in which is formed the shallow depression lined with 
dead grass. 
Eggs —Four in number, laid between the middle of April 
and the middle of May, but in the high north not before 
Tune Occasionally, they have been found m March. Mr. 
Robert Read writes to me that he has himself found the nest 
in the latter month in Northumberland, and that on the bare 
ground in an exposed site, swept over by every wind that blew. 
The ground-colour varies from a brownish-clay colour to a 
pale stone-grey, but in nearly every instance a shade of olive 
is apparent The spots are a mixture of reddish-brown, black, 
and purplish-grey, the latter being the underlying ones. In 
some e^gs the spots are small, and are distributed over the 
