The Snipes must be regarded as natives of the north and temperate portions of the earth, although they also visit its warmest latitudes. Many species frequent swampy woods, but for the most part they seek their food in marshes and morasses, remaining concealed during the day and searching for their food principally early in the morning or during the evening hours. Although by no means of social disposition, they are occasionally seen congregated together in considerable numbers; these assemblages are, however, owing apparently to the attraction of a suitable locality, as each bird lives, as it were, for itself and pays but little heed to its companions. Early in spring, the males exhibit a very pugnacious disposition, and have many fierce encounters with their rivals before obtaining a mate. The movements of the Snipes, both on the ground and in the air and water, are extremely active and easy, and the facility with which they seize and extract their insect prey from the mud and ooze, must be regarded as truly astonishing. Their voice is usually monotonous and harsh, but during the period of incubation the male indulges in a variety of gesticulations and peculiar notes. When alarmed, these birds generally lie close to the ground or among the herbage, or suddenly starting on wing escape by a flight which is short, elevated, rapid, and irregular. The four moderate-sized and pear-shaped eggs have a dirty yellow or greenish shell spotted with brown, and are deposited in a slight hole in the ground. The young, when they are hatched, are clad in a downy chequered garb of black and brown, and quit the nest on the day they escape from the shell. The Snipes are migratory in their habits and generally breed in high northern latitudes, but some are indigenous in this country, in all parts of which they rear their young, being especially numerous towards the north of Britain. Their flesh is much esteemed. THE WOODCOCK. The WOODCOCK (_Scolopax rusticola_) possesses a comparatively strong beak, rounded at the tip, and short stout feet with a very small claw upon the hind toe. The wing is blunt, and the tail composed of twelve feathers. Upon the forehead the plumage is grey, the sides of the head and nape are striped brown and reddish yellow; the rest of the upper portions of the body are spotted with various shades of brown, grey, and black. The large eye is brown, and the beak and foot horn-grey. This species is twelve inches long and twenty-two broad; the wing measures three, and the tail three inches and a half.