152 EGGS OF BEITISH BIRDS. 



take the form of diagonal dashes. Often the large ends are 

 slightly streaked with dark brown. They vary in length from 

 15 to 1*4 inch, and in breadth from 1*1 to 102 inch. 



THE WOODCOCK. 

 (Scolojxix rusticula.) 



Plate 41, Figs. 2, 5. 



The AVoodcock breeds somewhat sparingly and locally through- 

 out the British Islands, including the Shetlands and some of the 

 inner islands. It is a semi-Arctic bird, ranging from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific. In Scandinavia it breeds up to the Arctic circle ; 

 in West Kussia up to about lat. 65°, but in East Russia and 

 Siberia not much further north than lat. 60°. Its southern breed- 

 ing range extends to the Azores, the Canaries, Madeira, to the Alps, 

 the Carpathians, and the Caucasus, to the Himalayas, where it 

 breeds at an elevation of 10,000 feet, and to Mongolia and the 

 mountains of Japan. 



The nest is placed on the ground, and is little more than a 

 hollow scratched in the earth, and lined with a few leaves and a 

 little dry grass. 



The eggs of the Woodcock are four in number, and vary in 

 ground-colour from greyish-white to brownish-buff ; the surface- 

 spots vary in size from a pea downwards, and are reddish-brown 

 in colour, and very irregular in shape ; the underlying spots are 

 quite as large, and are pale greyish-brown. They vary in length 

 from 1'8 to 1"6 inch, and in breadth from 1*4 to 1"3 inch. 



THE GREAT SNIPE. 



(Scolopax major.)* 

 Plate 41, Figs. 1, 3. 

 The Great Snipe is known to sportsmen by the name of 

 Double Snipe, to distinguish it from the Full Snipe (the Common 

 Snipe), and the Half Snipe (the Jack Snipe). It can only be 

 regarded as a rare visitor, on spring and autumn migration, to 

 our islands. The geographical distribution of the Great Snipe is 

 a very remarkable one, extending in summer from Scandinavia 



* Gallinago major — Saunders, Manual, p. 555 ; Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 211. 



