220 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



specimens recorded as obtained there within about the 

 same number of years. All these, however, have been 

 in the autumn or early winter, and no single occurrence 

 is reported after the turn of the year. Near St. 

 Michael's-on-Wyre Mr. Hugh P. Hornby has been ex- 

 ceptionally fortunate in securing specimens, and he 

 remarks {ZooL, December, 1873) on one shot September 

 23, 1873, that it lay very close, and on rising uttered a 

 note not unlike that of the Common Snipe, but that it 

 had a totally different flight, heavy, slow, and straight 

 away. He writes me that in 1883, one, which was a 

 perfect mass of fat and grease, was shot in the same 

 locality in Sej^tember, and a second a day or two later 

 near Kirkham, and this last I have had an opportunity 

 of examining. 



COMMON SNIPE. 



Gallinago c^lestis (Frenzel). 



Local Names — Full Snijh', Ladi/ Sni2)e. 



The Common Snipe is an abundant species, breeding 

 numerously in many localities ; while in winter, with 

 large added flocks of migrants, it is plentiful wherever 

 there are suitable feeding-grounds. In the southern 

 half of the county it only nests in small numbers, but 

 as a visitor it is said to begin arriving on the mosses 

 about the end of August, continuing to do so through 

 September. At this time it is very wild, keeping to- 

 gether in " whisps " of thirty or forty, and when one 

 gets up, and gives its alarm-note, whisps from all 

 parts of the mosses rise up also (Field, November 24, 

 1855 ; ZooL, 1850, p. 2772, J. M. Jones). In the valleys 



