176 
NATURAL niSTOB 7 
SNIPE. 
The places these birds chiefly frequent, 
arc wet meadows, pastures, and marshes: 
they form their nests of dried grass and lea- 
thers in die most inaccessible parts ot We 
marshes, where die females lay four olive- 
coloured eggs, marked with dusky spots. 
Their flesh is tender, sweet, and of a most 
agreeable flavour, and is in great request 
for the table. They feed principally on 
small red worms, and other insects, wlncii 
they find in muddy and swampy places, on 
the shores of rivulets and brooks, and on me 
clayish margins of ponds. 
