124« SALMONIA. 



east of Europe are wetter in that season ; and 

 in springthey return, but the larger proportion 



than the common snipe, and has a breast spotted with 

 gray feathers. Its beak is shorter than that of the 

 snipe; the old ones have feathers almost pure white in 

 their tails, and as they spread them when rising, they 

 are easily distinguished by this character from the snipe ; 

 but in the young birds that I have seen in August, this 

 character was wanting. They are usually very fat, 

 particularly the young birds ; their weight varies from 

 six to nine ounces ; but even the fattest ones are rarely 

 above seven ounces and a half; and though I have 

 killed more than a hundred, I can speak of half-a-dozen 

 only that weighed above eight ounces and a half. In 

 spring they are usually found in pairs, the female 

 being rather larger, and having a paler breast : in 

 autumn they are solitary. They prefer wet meadows 

 to bogs, or large, deep marshes. They usually lie 

 closer than snipes, and seldom fly far. Their flight is 

 straight, like that of a jack snipe, and they are easily shot. 

 Attention to the migrations of birds might, I have 

 no doubt, lead to im.portant indications respecting the 

 character and changes of the weather and the seasons. 

 The late migration of the solitary snipe this year ( 1828) 

 seems to have been an indication of a wet and back- 

 ward summer in the north of Europe. But to form 

 opinions upon facts of this kind requires much know- 

 ledge and caution. The perfection of the larvae of 

 the tibulae on which this snipe feeds depends upon a 

 number of circumstances : the temperature of the last 



