MIGRATION. 227 



cidse to depart from the Peninsula in the autumn, it is 

 the last to return in the spring ; for in Scania, where 

 these birds first land, they seldom make their appearance 

 before the end of April or beginning of May : and in the 

 far North, for instance, at Bodiie, lat. 68°, on the western 

 coast of Norway, not until the end of May ; that is, they 

 revisit Scandinavia a full month later than the Woodcock 

 or the Common and the Jack Snipe. Kjfierbolling assigns 

 the end of Api'il as the period of this liivd's arrival in 

 Denmark when on the way to its breeding-grounds in the 

 far North, and September as that of its return. 



In closing these few remarks on the migrations of the 

 Solitary Snipe — of which we in England are so much in 

 the dark — it may be proper to add those of Sir Humpliry 

 Davy, who seems to have studied the habits of this bird 

 more than any one with whose works I am acquainted : — 

 " In the autumn," he says, " they pass more to the 

 east, both because they are aided by westerly winds, and 

 because the marshes in the East of Euroj)e are wetter 

 at that season; and in the spring they return, the larger 

 portion through Italy, where they are carried by the 

 Sirocco, which at that time is extremely wet. . . In 

 1827, the Solitary Snijie passed through Italy and Illyria 

 between the 15th of March and the 6th of May. I heard 

 of the first at Ravenna, the 17th of March, and I sliot 

 two near Lavbach on the 5th of Mav ; but though I was 

 continually searching for them for a fortnight after, I 

 found no more. This year they returned from the North 

 early, and I saw some in the marshes of Illyria on tlic 

 19th of August. In 1828 they were later in their vernal 

 passage, and likewise on their return. I found them in 

 Illyria through May, as late as the 17tli, on which day 

 I shot three, and they did not reappear till the begin- 

 ning of September. I found one on the 3rd and three 

 on the tth, and twentv were shot on the 7tli." 



