GREAT SNIPE. 339 



on her nest had torn up the surrounding moss and covered 

 its back with it for the purpose of concealment : a proceeding 

 similar to that of the Woodcock already noticed. Incubation 

 begins the end of May, or early in June, lasting eighteen 

 days, and the young, which run as soon as they are hatched, 

 are ready to fly by the middle of August. 



The food of the Great Snipe consists of larvae of insects, 

 especially of the species of the genus TipuUi, small slugs, 

 and worms ; always, according to Mr. Collett, mixed with 

 a few small stones. The weight in autumn, when the 

 bird is often a perfect ball of fat, varies from seven to ten 

 ounces. 



In summer the Great Snipe is found breeding throughout 

 suitable localities in Norway and Sweden up to about 

 70" N. lat., frequenting both the alpine or fell region and the 

 marshes of the lowlands and coast. An interesting account 

 of its nesting at Bodo in lat. 67° N. in a marsh which is 

 now drained, is given by Messrs. Godmau (Ibis, 1861, 

 p. 87). In Denmark it breeds in several localities, espec- 

 ially in Jutland, and it does so in many of the provinces 

 along the coast line of Northern Germany to Holland, 

 where, however, it is very local. Throughout Northern 

 Russia it breeds, although in decreasing numbers, from 

 the Baltic to the province of Archangel ; it was found 

 nesting in abundance at the delta of the Petchora by 

 Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown ; and it appears to 

 breed as far south as the central provinces ; also, according 

 to Nordmann, in the marshes of Bessarabia. In the rest of 

 Europe it is principally known as a migrant, but east of 

 Savoy it begins to occur as frequently in the spring as in the 

 autumn, and in Italy, Malta, and Albania it is distinctly 

 more common on the vernal migration. In the Spanish Pen- 

 insula it is of irregular occurrence : principally on the east 

 coast. Along the southern shores of the Mediterranean it 

 has been found occasionally in Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt ; 

 it passes southwards through Nubia to the Transvaal and 

 Natal, arriving in September and October, and leaving in 

 April ; and in the latter month Andersson obtained a specimen 



