198 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



dry hean stubble at Thorpe, Northants (ZooL, 1880, p. 

 444) ; one in afield of clover at Thaxted, Essex, Sept. 

 3, 1896 (Field, Sept. 12, 1896). For additional occur- 

 rences see ZooL, 1895, p. 383, where the respective 

 weights of a dozen specimens from various parts of the 

 country are noted. The average weight is about 7h to 

 8 oz.,but I have notes of three that weighed 10 oz.each, 

 and one shot at Pickering in Yorkshire, 10| oz. 



The Great Snipe differs from the Common Snipe 

 not merely by its superior size and weight, but in 

 having the underparts barred instead of white, with 

 sixteen tail feathers instead of fourteen ; the distal 

 half of the outermost one is pure white instead of 

 being barred as in the Common Snipe. A Great Snipe, 

 shot at Camelford, Cornwall, in November 1868, and 

 examined by Mr. E. H. Rodd of Penzance, had 

 eighteen instead of sixteen feathers in the tail 

 {Zool, 1868, p. 1482). 



There is a record of this species having nested 

 near Wroxham (Zool., 1851, p. 3175), but the late 

 Mr. Stevenson, who inquired carefully into the 

 circumstances and saw one of the eggs, concluded 

 that the nest was that of a Common Snipe ("Birds 

 of Norfolk," ii. p. 300). 



This is a rare visitor to Ireland in autumn. One 

 was shot at Ballycroy, Co. Mayo, Oct. 13, 1893 

 (Zool., 1893, p. 434) ; one near Clonakilty, Co. Cork, 

 Nov. 17, 1879 (Field, Nov. 22, 1879); another, Co. 

 Cork, Dec. 1883 (Zool., 1884, p. 149); and one 

 Co. Galway (Zool, 1888, p. 33). 



In Scotland it is regarded as a rare autumnal 



