SNIPES. 51 
GREAT SNIPE. Gallinago major (Gmelin). 
Visits this country regularly every autumn, and 
always earlier than the Common Snipe. Instances of 
its occurrence in spring are rare. It appears to seek 
drier situations than does the Common Snipe :—e. ¢., 
one shot by the Earl of Haddington in a dry grass- 
field near Mellerstain, Berwickshire, in the autumn 
of 1865 (Turnbull, ‘ Birds of East Lothian,’ p. 43) ; 
two on high ground, Malham, Yorkshire, 6th Sept. 
1862 (Christy Horsfall, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1862, p. 8196); 
one in a piece of potatoes, on dry sand, near Milton 
Pewsey, Wilts, 23rd Sept. 1868 (‘ The Field,’ 3rd Oct. 
1868); one in some heather on Salisbury Plain, 24th 
Sept. 1868 (Powell, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1868, p. 1461); and 
other examples might be adduced. ; 
It is worthy of note that a Great Snipe, shot at 
Camelford, Cornwall, in November 1868, and ex- 
amined by Mr. E. H. Rodd of Penzance*, had eighteen 
instead of sixteen feathers in the tail. 
COMMON SNIPE. Gallinago media, Leach. 
A regular winter visitant, but many pairs annually 
remain to breed in suitable localities. With reference 
to the large ruddy variety for which Mr. Gould 
has suggested the name G. russata, see his ‘ Birds of 
Great Britain ;’ Stevenson’s ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ vol. ii. 
p- 851; Rodd, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1855, p. 4704; Gatcombe, 
‘ Zoologist,’ 1862, p. 7938; Blake Knox, ‘ Zoologist,‘ 
* See ‘ Zoologist,’ 1868, p. 1482. 
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