26 SCOLOPACIDJl. 



When shooting in Sweden, Mr. Lloyd says, " The 

 Double or Solitary Snipe, I always found singly, or at 

 most in pairs. These birds are usually so fat in autumn 

 as apparently to be hardly able to fly ; indeed, when 

 flushed, they usually proceed but a short distance before 

 they settle again ; their flight is heavy and steady, and 

 they present the easiesUmark possible. Four couple were 

 the greatest number of these birds that I ever killed in 

 Sweden in any one day. They were by no means plen- 

 tiful in the vicinity of Gothenburg." That Mr. Lloyd 

 was not advantageously located for these particular birds, 

 may be inferred from the account of Mr. Greiff, who says, 

 " The Double Snipe is a bird of passage in Sweden, and 

 amongst those which arrive the latest. At the end of 

 the month of July, when the meadows are mowed, the 

 shooting of these birds with the pointer commences, and 

 continues till towards the end of September. In the whole 

 round of sporting, this affords one of the greatest pleasures. 

 These birds are easy to shoot ; and in some places fifty or 

 sixty may be killed in a day, particularly in autumn, when 

 they are so fat that they almost burst their skins. They 

 are most delicious eating." Mr. Greiff adds, " I was an 

 old sportsman of thirty years' standing before it came to 

 my knowledge that Double Snipes had their lek or play- 

 ing-ground. I heard their cry a whole spring, which was 

 in a marsh where I had a good orr-lek, but never observed 

 them, and therefore believed it to be some frogs or reptiles ; 

 but at last I discovered they were Double Snipes, which 

 ran like rats among the hillocks. Their cry commences 

 with a sound resembling the smack of the tongue, and 

 thereupon four or five louder follow." Sir Humphrey 

 Davy says, " An excellent sportsman, and good observer, 

 informs me, that, in the great royal decoy, or marsh- 

 preserve, near Hanover, he has had ocular proofs of 



