UMICOLM. ( 240 ) SCOLOPACIDsE. 



THE GEEAT SNIPE. 



DOUBLE SNIPE, SOLITARY SNIPE, WOODCOCK SNIPE. 



Gallinago major. 



And long-bilfd Snipe, that kncnus approaching rains. 



WILSON, Loch Winnoch. 



THIS bird is rarely seen in Berwickshire. A specimen was 

 shot by the Earl of Haddington in a dry grass park on 

 the farm of Lightfield, near Mellerstain, in the autumn of 

 1 8 6 5 ; 1 and another was killed by Mr. Stow Compton- 

 Lundie in a field at Spital House, in the parish of Hutton, 

 about the same time. 2 Mr. Kelly records that an example 

 was got by Mr. Scott, gamekeeper, Thirlestane Castle, in 

 1870 ; 3 and Mr. George Low told me in November 1882 

 that his brother, the Hon. Lord Low, saw a Great Snipe on 

 Ellemford ground a few years previously. 



It is known to be a visitor to the British Islands while 

 on its way to its southern winter quarters, its arrival gener- 

 ally taking place between the middle of August and the 

 middle of October. 



It may be distinguished from the Common Snipe by 

 its greater size, and by the under parts being more pro- 

 fusely and closely barred. Seebohm says that the chief 

 distinction lies in the tail ; in the adult Great Snipe the 

 terminal half of the four outside tail feathers on each side 

 is pure unspotted white, whilst in the Common Snipe it is 

 chestnut-buff, with a sub-terminal dark-brown bar. 



1 Turnbull's Birds of East- Lothian, p. 43. 



2 Information from W. Compton-Lundie, Esq. of Spital, 10th February 1886. 

 s Hist. B&r. Nat. Club, vol. vii. p. 523. 



