GALLINAGO MAJOB 313 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from Italy. 



Forehead and sides of head pale buff, speckled with dark brown ; crown 

 and nape black, with a median pale buff stripe ; upper parts blackish-brown 

 striped with pale buff and rufous ; median tail-feathers blackish at the 

 base, the remaining portion black variegated with rufous, the other tail- 

 feathers broadly tipped with white ; quills dark brown ; chin, throat and 

 upper breast pale buff, marked with dark brown ; rest of under parts 

 white. 



Iris dark brown ; bill flesh-colour at the base and black at the tip ; feet 

 light brown. 



Total length 11 inches, wing 5-50, culmen 2-4;0, tarsus 1-40. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



The Great, or Double Snipe, as it is often called, is not common 

 in Tunisia, but is to be met with occasionally and examples of the 

 species may be found from time to time among the numbers of the 

 Common Snipe brought to the Tunis market for sale. 



It is to be met with also in Algeria and Marocco, though it seems 

 to be somewhat rare in the latter country, as it apparently is in Spain 

 and Western Europe generally. The breeding-quarters of this species 

 are in Northern Europe, more particularly in North-eastern Europe 

 and further eastward in Asia, in some parts of which continent the 

 present species is more abundant than the Common Snipe. It winters 

 in Southern Europe, some parts of Asia, and in Africa as far south 

 as Cape Colony. 



The Great Snipe frequents the same localities as the Common 

 Snipe, but differs from that species in its general habits. It is 

 apparently never found in " wisps," but singly, or at most, in pairs. 

 Owing to its unsociable, or non-gregarious habits, the bird is often 

 called the " Solitary Snipe," but this name is also borne by an Asiatic 

 species, Gallinago solitaria, Hodgson. 



The flight of the Great Snipe differs from that of the Common 

 Snipe, in being heavier and straighter. Its food is the same as that 

 of its allies, and the bird feeds chiefly at night, being more or less 

 nocturnal in its habits. During the breeding-season it utters some 

 notes, but appears to be silent at other seasons. 



