COMMON SANDPIPEE. 
163 
The Summer Snipe visits us in April, about the 20th., 
and leaves us by about the end of September, or earlier—in 
August—according to the state of the season. They arrive 
singly or in pairs, and travel by night. Before starting they 
fly about in a restless manner, uttering their whistling note. 
It is a bird of lively and active habits, and it is pleasant 
to watch it running nimbly along the water’s edge, by the 
side of a still lake or pond, or the bank of the rapid or 
the slow stream, the large or the small river, in the summer 
time, or treading lightly over the beautiful leaves of the 
water-lily, which float so buoyant themselves on the crystal 
surface. It is seldom seen on the shore of the sea, but the 
situations mentioned are all alike congenial to its taste, 
whether in a hilly or a flat country, an open or a wooded 
district. It can both swim and dive well; even the young, 
if need appear to be, take fearlessly to the water, and remove 
underneath the surface to a considerable distance. One has 
been known thus to seek and find safety from the pursuit 
of a Hawk. The wings are used in progression underneath. 
It is almost constantly in motion, and has, like so many 
other birds, a habit of flirting its tail up and down, while 
the head and neck are thrust forward in a nodding manner, 
or again retracted during the search for food. If disturbed 
during the period of incubation, ‘the female quits the nest 
as quietly as possible, and usually flies to a distance, making 
at this time no outcry; as soon, however, as the young are 
hatched, her manners completely alter, and the greatest 
agitation is expressed on the apprehension of danger; and 
every stratagem is tried, such as feigning lameness, and 
inability of flight, to divert the attention of the intruder 
from the unfledged brood:’ both parents indeed are clamorous 
at this season, ignorant of the worldly maxim that ‘speech 
was given to us to conceal our thoughts.’ These birds perch 
at times on roots and stumps by the water side. Small 
flocks of a dozen or fourteen may at times be seen together, 
or up to twenty or thirty; but they do not associate very 
closely or determinedly together, each individual following its 
own inclination, both when on the ground and in flying off, 
or alighting. 
It flies with ease and celerity; if to a distance, at a 
moderate height; but if otherwise, it proceeds a little way, 
and commonly settles on the opposite side to that which it 
had left. ‘Its flight,’ says Selby, ‘is graceful, though peculiar, 
