98 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



son County, December 10, and Orient Point, December 20 ; New Jer- 

 sey, Bloomfield, November 1, Camden, November 7, Egg Island, No- 

 vember 8, and Pennsville, December 1; Pennsylvania, Berwyn, 

 November 1, and Erie, November 21; and District of Columbia, 

 Washington, December 22. 



Casual records. — A Wilson's snipe was killed at Naaleho Planta- 

 tion, Kau, Hawaiian Islands, several years prior to 1900 and a second 

 was reported as seen in the same locality in the fall of the same year 

 (Henshaw, 1902). It also has been reported as taken in Great 

 Britain, but the record is too doubtful to warrant serious considera- 

 tion. 



Egg dates. — Magdalen Islands: 36 records, June 1 to 27; 18 rec- 

 ords, June 3 to 14. Alberta : 39 records, May 16 to July ; 20 records, 

 May 28 to June 10. Utah : 48 records, May 8 to July 24; 24 records, 

 May 12 to June 2. 



CAPELLA MEDIA (Latham) 



GREAT SNIPE 



Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jonrdain 



HABITS 



The claim of this species to a place on the American list rests 

 on a specimen obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company in Can- 

 ada many years ago and noAV in the collection of the British Museum. 

 Its breeding home is in Northern Europe and Asia, but on migra- 

 tion and during the winter months it has been met with in the 

 British Isles, throughout southern Europe and Africa south to the 

 Cape Province, as well as southern Asia from India westward. 

 Unlike the common snipe, it frequently occurs singly and is by no 

 means confined to marshy spots, but may be met with on rough 

 pastures, moorlands, and fields. To this characteristic it owes its 

 name of " solitary snipe." 



Spring. — On the northward migration it is of very rare occurrence 

 in the British Isles, and has only been recorded on a few occasions 

 in Morocco, but of regular occurrence in south Spain; but is not 

 uncommon on passage in Malta in April and May and occurs in 

 small numbers in Italy in April and May and in Corfu and Epirus 

 in March, also migrating in greater numbers along the west coast 

 of the Black Sea. Probably the majority of the birds which visit 

 South Africa make their way northward along the east side of the 

 Continent. The northerly movement begins in Natal in January 

 or February, so that it extends over a period of four or five months. 



Courtship. — Observations on the courtship of this species are not 

 numerous, for it is nocturnal in its habits and, except during the 

 mating season, decidedly unsociable. In western Europe there has 



