The males are sometimes called Fighters, on account of their quarrelsome disposition. It is a bird of passage, and arrives in the fens of Lincolnshire, and other similar places, in the spring. Mr. Pennant tells us, that in the course of a single morning more than six dozen have been caught in one net, and that a fowler has been known to catch between forty and fifty dozen in a season. [Illustration] THE female is called a Reeve, and its flesh is thought a great delicacy for the table. They are smaller than the cocks, and their feathers undergo no change. The Ruff and Reeve are taken in nets. They used to be seen in vast numbers in many parts of England, especially in the Isle of Ely and the Lincolnshire fens. The improvements in drainage and cultivation that have been made during the present century have deprived these birds of their accustomed haunts, and they are no longer common. A writer of the last century said he had seen the ground so covered with the nests and eggs of Plovers and Reeves that “one could scarce take a step without stepping on them.” They are now most common on the shores of southern Scotland and of Northumberland. Reeves are fattened for the table by feeding them on boiled rice or wheat, bread and milk, hemp seed, &c. They are obliged to be kept in a dark room during the process, as the least gleam of light is the signal for a furious battle. [Illustration: THE SNIPE. (_Scolopax gallinago._)] “The Snipe flies screaming from the marshy verge, And towers in airy circles o’er the wood; Still heard at intervals; and oft returns, And stoops as bent to alight; then wheels aloft With sudden fear, and screams and stoops again, Her favourite glade reluctant to forsake.” GISBORNE. THE SNIPE weighs about four ounces. A pale red line divides the head longways; the chin under the bill is white; the neck is a mixture of brown and red; the lower part of the body is almost all white. The back and wings are of a dusky colour. The flesh is tender, sweet, and in flavour ranks next to that of the woodcock. Snipes feed especially upon small red worms, and insects, which they find in muddy and swampy places, on the banks of rivulets and brooks, and on the clayey margin of ponds. It is said that Snipes remain with us all the summer, and build in moors and marshes, laying four or five eggs; but most of them are migratory, and, when forced by severe frosts to sheltered springs, are often seen in large flights. Mr. Daniel states that, about thirty years ago, Snipes were so abundant in the fens of Cambridgeshire, that as many were taken in Milton fen, by means of a lark-net, in one night, and by a single man, as could be contained in a small hamper. [Illustration: THE WOODCOCK, (_Scolopax rusticola_,)]