CHARADRIID.E. 



571 



THE GREAT SNIPE. 

 Gallinago major (J. F. Gmelin). 



The Great, Double, or Solitary Snipe as it is often called, is an 

 annual visitor in small numbers to the eastern and southern por- 

 tions of England ; the arrivals — chiefly of young birds — being 

 generally between the middle of August and the middle of October. 

 In the central and western districts the species is far less frequent ; 

 while, as regards the spring migration, only three examples from 

 East Anglia seem to be on record. In Scotland about a dozen 

 authentic specimens have been obtained, at long intervals : two of 

 them in May. As regards Ireland, Mr. Williams, the well-known 

 taxidermist in Dublin, is aware of only five occurrences, and three 

 of these in the west ; though more than a dozen large specimens of 

 the Common Snipe have been forwarded to him for preservation, 

 under the belief that they belonged to the rarer species. 



The Great Snipe breeds in the lowlands and also on the fells of 

 Scandinavia up to about lat. 70° N., as well as in Denmark (rather 

 freely in Jutland), some parts of Northern Germany, and, sparingly, 

 in Holland. In the marshy districts of Poland to the east of the 

 Vistula, as well as in Russia down to Bessarabia, it nests freely ; and 

 Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Seebohm found it in abundance as far 

 north as the delta of the Petchora. Over the rest of Europe it 

 occurs on passage, though it is scarcely known in the west of France, 



