800 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



be here noticed also that in the " Zoologist " for 1851 

 (p. 3175) Mr. P. E. Hansell, of Thorpe, near Norwich, 

 recorded a supposed instance of the Great Snipe breed- 

 ing in Norfolk, the particulars of which are thus 

 given. " In the April of 1846, I found a nest of the 

 great snipe containing four eggs, one of which is now 

 in my collection ; the others were broken by a boy who 

 was with me, whilst stepping into my boat. The nest 

 was placed in a tuft of grass, in some marshes at 

 Belaugh, near Wroxham, in this county. I had a good 

 opportunity of observing both the birds, as they did not 

 rise in the usual quick manner of the common snipe, 

 but much more leisurely, and continued to hover round 

 the nest for some little time." In support of his state- 

 ment, Mr. Hansell also says that " a male specimen of 

 this bird was shot near Lowestoft, in Suffolk, the latter 

 end of April " in the same year. There is, however, a 

 very large snipe occasionally met with in our marshes, 

 which answers exactly to the description of Mr. Gould's 

 " russet " snipe, as given by that author in his " Birds 

 of Great Britain," and to which I shall have occasion 

 to refer more fully in my account of the common species. 

 Having shot this bird myself on one occasion, and seen 

 two others on the wing, I can speak to its great 

 resemblance in size and action, when flushed, to the 

 great snipe. It utters no cry on rising, and flies slowly 

 and steadily, and would, I believe, by most sportsmen 

 be taken for the great snipe until brought to bag, 

 when the white of the under parts of the plumage 

 at once determines the species, in spite of its bulk 

 and extraordinary length of bill. May not the birds 

 seen by Mr. Hansell have belonged to this large race 

 of S. gallinago, whose eggs most probably would be 

 proportionate in size ? Any how, there seems to be no 

 doubt that the egg taken as above described, and 

 which has been presented by Mr. Hansell to the 



