274 CHARADRIIDAH 
and heavier flight, and expanded fan-like tail; moreover, it 
rises without uttering an alarm-note. 
Food.—The food consists largely of insects and their 
larve, together with worms and slugs; small grit is also 
swallowed (Collet). 
Voice.—In spring the bird gives utterance to a rather 
low, hoarse sound; in autumn and winter it rises and wings 
its way in silence. 
Nest.—The Great Snipe nests on the ground “ often 
among willow-bushes, or in some hillock above the level of 
a morass or forest-swamp”’ (Saunders). The eggs, four in 
number, are light brownish-grey, blotched with lhght and 
dark shades of rich purple-red and brown. 
Incubation takes place about the beginning of June. 
Geographical Distribution.——The European breeding- 
haunts of this species are in Scandinavia, Denmark, Northern 
Germany, Poland, and Russia southward to the Black Sea. 
Hastward it can be traced over Siberia. 
As a bird of passage, it visits the greater part of Tem- 
perate Kurope (though rarer in the Western Countries), 
Asia, and North Africa. In winter, numbers migrate to 
the Mediterranean basin, South-western Asia and South 
Africa. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial—The Great Snipe so 
closely resembles the Common Snipe in its markings that 
a separate description seems superfluous. As already men- 
tioned, this species is marked with conspicuous bars of 
brownish-black across the abdomen, and there is much 
more white on the lateral tail-feathers than on those of the 
Common Snipe. 
Adult female nuptial.—Similar to the male plumage. 
Adult winter, male and female.—Similar to the nuptial 
plumage, but the buff markings are more distinct. 
Immature, male and female.—The outer tail-feathers are 
barred across both webs, and show less white, and the 
shading of the plumage is lighter, exhibiting more rufous 
than in the adult. The markings on the breast and abdo- 
men are more distinctly ‘arrow-headed’ than those of the 
mature birds. 
Brak. Light brown at the basal portion, becoming dark 
brownish-black towards the point. 
