mistaken after it has once been heard, is peculiar to the breedingseason.
At this period of the year Snipe may be constantly
observed, but especially towards the evening, rising to a great
height in the air, often uttering a sharp call sounding something
like "tchik-tchak, tchik-tchak." Suddenly, with outspread tail and
sharply vibrating wings, they begin to descend with great velocity
in a slanting direction, and so long as this descent lasts this
peculiar drumming sound is heard. Having thus descended to
within from thirty to a hundred yards of the ground, the bird
resumes its natural flight, the sound ceases, and away goes
Mr. Snipe uttering his ''tchik-tchak" louder than ever, as if
greatly gratified with the performance with which he has edified
his spouse on her nest below. That this drumming was not
produced from the throat was proved by the fact that the bird
had been heard ('though this is certainly exceptional) to utter
its " tchik-tchak" note whilst still drumming, and subsequently
this latter was experimentally demonstrated to be caused by
the rapid passage of the air through the outermost tail feathers
which, even in this species, have the shafts stiff and sabre shaped,
and the laminae of the web very long and firmly interlinked.
In Europe Dresser, following Hcrr Meves, seems to assume
that it is simply the normal contact with the air of the tail
feathers in their rapid downward course that evolves the
drumming ; but, though this may have some share in producing
this sound, this latter is distinctly vibratory while the descent is
even, and, as I have repeatedly noticed, the vibration of the
wings, which are in constant motion during the descent, is
synchronious with the vibration of the sound, so that I have no
doubt that both wings and tail play an at least equal part in
this remarkable performance. Probably the beats of the pinions
force the air against which they strike with increased velocity
backwards against the tail feathers. Anyhow of this I am quite
certain, vis., that the sound actually arises from the tail feathers,
and that the beats of the wing impart to it its vibratory
character.
The nests found in Kashmir were described* as cup-shaped
hollows in soft, mossy, spongy turf, surrounded or overhung
by rushes and grass, and sparingly lined with fine grass, and
in one case the needle-like leaves of ahorse tail (Equisetum).
The birds apparently do not commence laying in Kashmir
until May, and much incubated eggs have been found late
in June. In Europe eggs may, it is said, be found from the
first week in April, though the first are generally laid about
* I may also quote what Hewitson says of the nests in England :—
"The Snipe lays its eggs amongst rushes, grass, or heather, making—and this
only al times— a slight nest for their reception, by gathering together a few bits
of heath and dry grass. The eggs of one bird are, I believe, invariably four in
number The egg is a remark able "production for a bird so small, being as large
as that of the Pigeon and of the Rook, and considerably larger than those of the
Magpie and Paitiidge, birds three or four times its own size and weight.''
the middle of that month ; and I myself have taken eggs in
Norfolk as late as the 17th of May.
The eggs, always normally four in number, are nearly hemispherical
at the larger end ; but from the middle they are compressed
and elongated, so that, while one-half of the egg is a
half globe, the other is a long cone, abruptly truncated or
rounded off at the tip. Sometimes the cone is pinched in
near the tip so as to make the egg almost pear-shaped.
The shell is extremely smooth, but has, at most, only a
faint gloss. In colour and markings the eggs vary very much.
Typically the ground colour varies from a yellow stone to a
dark cafe' an lait, but not unfrequcntly it has an olive tinge ;
and again in some eggs the ground is decidedly green, quite
a light bright green in one, and in one or two it is more blue
than green. The markings are large blotches, smears, spots,
and clouds of brown of varying shades, becoming black in some
spots; the brown is very often reddish or purplish, and where
pale in some of the sub-surface-looking clouds, is at times a pate
purple, at others pure brown, at others a sepia grey. The
markings are always densest on the large half of the egg, where
they occasionally form a nearly confluent cap, and are generally
almost confined to the upper two-thirds of the egg, the conical
end exhibiting few markings. Usually the markings are nearly
all very large and bold, and comparatively few in number ; but
occasionally they are much more numerous, smaller in size, and
more thickly set.
The eggs, \ ery large for the size of the bird, vary from 1*54 to
1*62 in length, and from 1*1 to 1*23 in breadth.
IN THIS species also the females do average slightly larger,
and have longer bills than the males; and so, as I have recorded
a huge, series of measurements, I give the weights and dimensions
of the sexes separately, although, as a fact, a vast number of
each do not differ in size, and all one can say is, that the
smallest birds are males, and the very largest always females.
Males.—Length, 90 to 11*3; expanse, I5"0 to 175 ; wing,
4*9 to 5"6 ; tail, from vent, 2"5 to 29 ; tarsus, V2 to 134 ; bill,
from gape, 2*39 to 27 ; at front, 2*43 to 275 ; weight, 3*3 to
5- l ozs. Average, 415 ozs.
Females.-—Length, 9-2 to 12*5 ; expanse, l6"0 to 1825 ; wing,
4-87 to 571 ; tail, from vent, 2*3 to 3*0; tarsus, 125 to 1*33 ;
bill, from gape, 2*5 to 29 ; at front, 2"62 to 3"0; weight, 31 to
5'5 ozs. Average, 4*27 ozs. Average of both sexes, 4'2 ozs.
Some years ago my friend, Mr. J. C. Parker, writing to Stray
Feathers, remarked: " I find, from looking over an old diary,
that I have recorded the weights of some scores of each species;
the average weight of the Pintail is 4 ozs. 3 drams, and of
the Fantail only 3 ozs. 3 drams. The heaviest of the former
was 4 ozs. 9 drams, of the latter 3 ozs. 13 drams."
v 1