174 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



SNIPE. 



Gallinago gallinama (0. F. Mutter). 



Unusually abundant in November, 1878, here, and generally in 

 Scotland. [Jack Snipe unusually scarce.] Their habits in Tyree 

 were quite different from what they are in ordinary seasons. All 

 seemed anxious to press southward, and, when flushed, took right 

 away in that direction. They all left our marsh here in a single 

 night — the 1st of December. No less than 1303 were shot on one 

 shooting in S.W. of Ireland, mostly by one gun [v. Field, March 1, 

 1879], in 50 days' shooting. Snipe and Jack Snipe were very 

 abundant in most localities in the autumn of 1878, probably owing 

 to the unusually dry and fine summer and autumn of that year, 

 which drove them down off the moors to favourite marshes, and 

 brought them more together. 



Mr. T. H. Gibb makes some remarks on their great abundance 

 also in the eastern counties of Scotland during the winter. " Mr. 

 Ohas. Purvis, of Alnwick, computed a flock, which he sprung from 

 the moats which surround the ruins of Dunstanborough Castle, to 

 have been composed of at least fifty individuals" [loc. cit.\ 



Snipe appeared to be unusually scarce, however, in the marshes 

 in many parts of Scotland up to the end of August, 1879. This 

 was doubtless owing to the unusually large area of feeding ground 

 supplied by the very wet summer. On 1st September no Snipe 

 were found in the salt-marshes of Stirlingshire, but on the 2nd 

 over 30 were flushed in one little corner. I believe these Snipe 

 to have been of foreign origin, as it is only after frost in ordinary 

 seasons that Snipe frequent our salt-marshes in this county. Up 

 to the date of reading this paper Snipe remained scarcer than usual 

 in our inland marshes, the continuous wet weather sufficiently 

 accounting for their wider dispersal over the country. In our 

 own marsh — where, in the autumn of 1878, 1 saw as many as 50 in 

 a day — this year, as yet, I have only seen about a dozen altogether. 



It is reported from Ireland that unusually large numbers of 



Snipe did not migrate further north in the spring, but remained to 



breed in the Irish bogs and mountains, crowding down on our 



latitudes. 



WOODCOCK. 



Scolopax rusticola, Lin. 



Woodcocks from Norway and North of Europe arrived upon 

 our coasts about the usual time, but local migrations of very large 



