. British birds with their nests and eggs . t in the air in pairs andthrees, apparently prodding at one another with their bills) is connected withpairing, but I cannot think so, as I have witnessed it as late as the end of rather think it is pure playfulness, as of children just out of school, after lyingconcealed and quiet most of the day. I have occasionally flushed Woodcocks at night from wet rushy fields, wherethey were doubtless probing the ground for worms and larvae, occasionally turningover the droppings of cattle for concealed beetles. But they also feed in woodsto a certain ex
. British birds with their nests and eggs . t in the air in pairs andthrees, apparently prodding at one another with their bills) is connected withpairing, but I cannot think so, as I have witnessed it as late as the end of rather think it is pure playfulness, as of children just out of school, after lyingconcealed and quiet most of the day. I have occasionally flushed Woodcocks at night from wet rushy fields, wherethey were doubtless probing the ground for worms and larvae, occasionally turningover the droppings of cattle for concealed beetles. But they also feed in woodsto a certain extent, turning the dead leaves over to find insects, etc. The accountsof the extent of their appetites, and of the amount of worms, etc., which they willput away at a sitting, are surprising. These they find in the earth with theirbills, which are modified into a very delicate organ of touch. If the homy epidermis be removed, a number of small pits of a hexagonalshape will be seen in the bone at the end of the bill, remotely suggesting an y. *0 a. z (/} h< UJ O The Great Snipe. ^°7 incipient honey-comb. In each one of these pits a minute fibril of the olfactory-nerve has its termination, and by this means, when the bill is thrust into the softwet soil, the slightest wriggle of the least living creature is instantly telegraphedto the Woodcocks sensibilities. This arrangement is highly developed in theWoodcock and Snipe (in which the pits are clearly visible in the dried skin) and,to a less extent, in a good many of the Limicoline birds. Family—SCOL OPA CID^. Great Snipe. Gallinago major, GmEL. A BIRD much oftener reported than seen in this country; the majority of theGreat Snipes, which are honoured with obituary notices in the papers,are only fine examples of the Common Snipe. The present species breeds inScandinavia, Denmark, North Germany, Finland, and Northern Russia, down to50°, and in small numbers in Holland. Ranging as far east as the Yenesei, ithas not been record
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1896
