CHAPTER XVII. 



TLo Couiuiuu Snipe. — Widely dLsperseJ. — Accidental Varieties. — Resorts. 

 — Food. — Social Habits. — Breeding. — It di-ums. — Curious Legend. 

 — Migration. — The Jack Snipe. — Extensively spread. — Snipe-shooting. 

 Widtskofle.— The Ruffi— Its Pugnacity. 



^ I^HE Common Snipe {Enkel Beckasin, or single snijie, 

 -*- Sw. ; Skuddefiill, or horse of the mist, Norvv. ; 

 Dohhelt BeJckasin, or double snipe, Danish ; Scolopax 

 Gallinago, Linn.) was a summer visitor with us, as also 

 throughout the length and breadth of Scandinavia, as 

 high vip at least as the 70° ; but it is much more plentiful 

 in the midland and southern parts of the Peninsula than 

 in the far North. In Denmark it is also very numerous. 

 The Danish name for this bird is identical, it will be 

 noticed, with that by which the Solitary Snipe is known 

 in Sweden. Naturalists and sportsmen will therefore do 

 well to bear this circumstance in mind, or otherwise great 

 mistakes may be made. 



The Common Snipe is mvich more generally distri- 

 buted than its congeners the Woodcock and the Solitary 



