274 WOODCOCK AND SNIPE 



a nest with 4 eggs was found in Co. Tipperary on July 21, 1892, which was believed 

 to be the second brood of a bird which had young on April 2. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Worms, slugs, insects, and small crustaceans and molluscs. 

 Vegetable matter has been found in stomachs of individuals examined, but this 

 is apparently taken either accidentally with other food or when the birds are hard 

 pressed (Naumann, Vogel Mitteleuropas, ix. 214). For the food and feeding of the 

 young, see p. 296. [w. P. P.] 



GREAT-SNIPE \_Gallindgo media (Latham); Gallinago major (Gmelin). 

 Double-snipe, solitary-snipe. French, grande becassine ; German, grosse 

 Sumpfschnepfe ; Italian, croccolone]. 



1. Description. The great-snipe may readily be distinguished from the 

 common-snipe by the white outer tail feathers, which are more or less barred with 

 black. The sexes are alike, and there is no seasonal change of coloration. (No Plate.) 

 Length 10 '5 [255-27 mm.]. The general coloration of the great-snipe is like that of the 

 common-snipe, but it differs in that the flanks are more coarsely barred with black, 

 and the wing-coverts are conspicuously tipped with white. The axillaries are heavily 

 barred with black. Finally there are sixteen tail feathers, while in the common- 

 snipe there are but fourteen. Immature birds are somewhat more rufous than 

 the adults, and the longitudinal yellow stripes less distinct. The young in down 

 differ from those of the common-snipe in being somewhat less rufous in colour, 

 especially on the under parts, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. On the Continent this species is found in the breeding 

 season very locally in Jylland, and sporadically in small numbers in N. Germany 

 (E. Prussia and Holstein), while it is said also to have bred occasionally in various 

 parts of Holland. In Scandinavia it nests in Norway, chiefly in the birch region 

 north to Tromso, and in Sweden from Skane to Lycksele in Lapland. The main 

 breeding-grounds of this species are, however, in Russia, where it breeds up to 

 61 in Finland, and from 65 on the White Sea to 67 on the Petchora. South- 

 ward its southern limit is Bessarabia on the south-west, and about 51 on the Volga 

 and in the Urals, but a few are said to nest in the Caucasus. In Siberia it breeds in 

 the Altai, and also east to the Yenesei valley, where Popham met with it up to 

 lat. 71. On migration it passes through Europe and South-western Asia across 

 the Mediterranean, wintering in Africa, and ranging south to Natal and Cape 

 Colony, but avoiding the western parts of tropical Africa, and apparently 



