

fe.^ 



^N^C 



. \^ 



THE commo:n^ snipe. 



SCOLOPAX GALLIXAGO. 



Upper plumage very like the last ; chin and throat reddish white ; lower parts 

 white, without spots ; flanks ban-ed transversely with white and dusky ; 

 tail of fourteen feathers. Length eleven and a half inches. Eggs light greenish 

 yellow, spotted with brown and ash. 



The Common Snipe is a bird of very general distribution, 

 being found in all parts of the Eastern Continent, from 

 Ireland to Japan, and from Siberia to the Cape of Good 

 Hope. It is common also in many parts of America, 

 especially Carolina, and is frequent in many of the 

 American Islands. In Britain, Snipes are most numerous 

 in the winter, their numbers being then increased by arrivals 

 from high latitudes, from which they are driven by the 

 impossibility of boring for food in ground hardened by 

 frost or buried beneath snow. In September and October 



