88 Messrs. F. and P. Godman on the Birds observed at Bodb 
and though we could always find several birds, we did not 
succeed in finding any nests before June 24th, nearly a month 
after the birds arrived. About this time we found several places 
evidently scraped out by a bird as if for a nest, and as they 
were in a part of the marsh in which we observed no other bird 
except the Great Snipe which was likely to do this, although we 
were there almost daily for six weeks, and as they were invariably 
in exactly similar places to those in which we subsequently 
discovered the nests of the Great Snipe, we can attribute them to 
no other bird. Although we carefully looked at these scrapings 
several times subsequently, we never found any eggs in them; 
but on one occasion we took a nest with four eggs about 6 yards 
from one of these places. 
The first nest we found contained four eggs, and was placed 
on the edge of a small hillock, quite open, though there were 
dwarf birch-trees growing all round, aud one on the very hillock 
on which the nest was situated. It consisted of nothing more 
than a hole scraped in the moss, in which the eggs were de¬ 
posited ; there were neither grass nor leaves in it. After a 
minute examination of it, and carefully marking the place, we 
went away to fetch our guns, the rain descending in such 
torrents that we were not carrying them that day. On our 
return in half an hour, the bird was again on the nest. We put 
it up and shot it. It proved to be a female. The eggs were 
very slightly incubated. The next day (June 25th) we found 
another nest within 200 yards of the former, containing only 
two eggs, and as we thought the bird would be sure to lay 
more, we marked the place and left it. It was situated on a 
small hillock, and much in the same sort of place as the former. 
We found another nest on the 27th of the same month. The 
bird fluttered off and ran away, dragging its wings on the 
ground, and making a sort of drumming noise. After taking 
four eggs from this nest, we returned to look at that found on 
the 25th, which contained two eggs. We walked directly to the 
spot, and what was our horror at seeing nothing in the place but 
some apparently disturbed moss ! Our first impression was that 
the eggs had been destroyed by the Magpies or Crows that were 
constantly hunting for such food, or perhaps taken and eaten by 
