SNIPE.
SCOLOPJX GJLLINAGO.
THE Snipe is a resident in Great Britain, brciding wherever suitable localities are met with from north
to south. Its numbers an1 also considerably increased in autumn by arrivals from across the North Sea.
In the Highlands these birds nest out on the moist portions of the open moors, as well as on the
swamps round the loehs or along the river-sides. Occasionally I have seen the young in low-lying
hay-fields", and in the cast of Ross-shire several pairs resorted to the neighbourhood of the pools on
the fiat sandy waste near Tain, known as the " Fendom." The patches of rough grass and the dense
cover about the fens and broads of the eastern counties afford in most instances a secure retreat; the birds,
however, that attempt to rear their young on the more exposed marshlands on which the Peewit and
Redshank annually take up their quarters are not unfrcciuently robbed of their eggs. A few Snipe still
breed on the hogs adjoining the springs or streams in some of the Ltrge Sussex forests of beech and birch;
in the same county a nest or two are also occasionally to Is- found in the water-meadows bordering the
course of the sluggish rivers making their way towards the shores of the Channel.
It is probable that in sonic districts, ir unmolcsti-d, two broods are reared daring the season. On the
Fendom, near Tain, 1 have seen young birds, apparently five or six days old, as early as the loth of April,
and a brood was hatched out the same year (lstll)) on the 9TH of July on the marshy ground to the
cast of Loch Doula, near Lairg ; it was unlikely that, in such a remote locality, the birds had suffered from
interference. In the south of Scotlaud, Norfolk, or Sussex it is seldom, according to my own exparlenea,
that Snipe commence to lay before the second week in April: as a rule, I -huuld think that but one
brood is brought out in these parts, the lute nests occasionally met with having resulted from the first
set of eggs being taken f.
The very unpleasant, not to say dangerous, nature of the ground over which the sport has to be
followed in many districts is a great drawback to the enjoyment of Snipe-shooting. The uncertain footing
and the possibility that the next step may precipitate one up to the neck into some rotten bole is by
no means conducive to steadiness of aim J. Considerable experience is needed to step with safety and
the necessary Bpced across the waving bog or Heating hovers to he met with about many of the Norfolk
broads; to stand for more than a few seconds on the green roots of the water-plants that alone sustain
• It frequently lmppcns in the remote Highland glens that no attempt ia made to cut tlio hay till the first or second we.lt ¡0 Sepu.mhor.
t On the 3)tfa of July, 1871, I |>ut a Kmrw fcura eggs an a marsh ia the cut of Norfolk . itie gruund, however, hat! bet-n rtneinilh earthed
•net aj cgg-sl eiders. M well • luml.,1 t.v liu.'/irj- |Murili-Harriera).
J On one ot the- very heat parts of the- mads round Hoigham Sounds, ill Norfolk, Ihcro went several holes from which a stranger unacquainted
with tlx- >|sit would stand a |«sir iliinei .1 .-iin. janj l.uiy f uitlwiit aid. 1)1 late yean, the prounJ hi- graJujIly WWHU nun.- linn ; the buiiws,
however, hare decreased in nunibcis.
K ^ _ .