COMMON SNIPE. 343 



numbers seen here, so generally dispersed, which visit us in 

 autumn and winter from various parts of Scandinavia, and 

 leave us again in March, frequently shifting their ground 

 under the influence of the weather, so that the sportsman 

 who has enjoj'ed excellent shooting one day, may find the 

 same spots entirely deserted on the following. The great 

 flight arrives on our shores about the end of October or 

 early in November, at which period individuals are frequently 

 killed by striking against the lanterns of lighthouses. As 

 many as a hundred at a time were observed passing over the 

 Gull Light-vessel on the 23rd November, 1881, at 10.30 a.m., 

 with direction to the west. 



In America our Snipe is replaced by a closely-allied 

 species, Gallinago u-ilsoni, with axillaries and under wing- 

 coverts so closely barred that black is the predominating 

 colour ; the tail-feathers are usually sixteen in number, and 

 not fourteen, as in our bird, and the outer ones are nar- 

 rower.* In Greenland, however, our Snipe has been observed 

 so often that Reinhardt was inclined to think that some 

 pairs might breed there (Ibis, 1861, p. 11). In Iceland it is 

 tolerably abundant, and in the Ficroes it becomes numerous, 

 many remaining throughout the winter. During the sum- 

 mer it is of general distribution throughout Northern 

 Europe, but the greater cold of the Continental winter 

 forces the majority to take their departure. Mr. Godman 

 found it in the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores, and in 

 the latter he believes it breeds, as a few pairs are said to do 

 in the marshes of Algeria ; but in Europe its nesting range 

 has not been ascertained to extend south of Northern Italy. 

 As a migrant or a winter visitor, it is known all over 

 Southern Europe, the islands of the Mediterranean, and 

 along the northern portion of Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, 



* Mr. Halting '(Handbk. Brit. Birds, p. 143) has recorded a Snipe shot at 

 Taplow Court, Buclis, on 1st August, 1863, and sent to Mr. Gould, at whose 

 house he examined it in the flesh. It had only fourteen tail-feathers, but from 

 the general appearance of the plumage, and the barrings of the axillary plumes, 

 he was then inclined to identify it with the American species, G. wilsont. After 

 careful search through the large collection in the P.ritish Museum, of which Mr. 

 Gould's now forms a part, this specimen cannot be discovered. — Ki>. 



