COMMON SNIPE — GREAT SNIPE. 161 



There were Curlews, by long bills and wading well 



known ; 

 And the Crow, who to feasting on carrion is prone. 



Unless it be that as its long continuance here is indicative of a 

 severe winter, and as long frost renders, most probably, the 

 earth more fruitful. 



The GallinagOf or Common Snipe, Snipe, or Snite, has a 

 straight bill three inches, body nearly twelve inches long ; the 

 general appearance of the body a variegated brown ; beneath 

 whitish. It migrates partly, and partly breeds in England 

 during the summer. Eggs four or five, olivaceous, spotted with 

 rufous-brown. Flesh excellent, and dressed in the same manner 

 as the woodcock, without taking out the intestines. Found in 

 almost every part of the world. 



" The snipe fliea screaming from the marshy verge, 

 And towers in airy circles o'er the wood. 

 Still heard at intervals; and oft returns 

 And stoops as bent to alight ; then wheels aloft 

 With sudden fear, and screams and stoops again, 

 Her favourite glade reluctant to forsake." 



GiSBORNE, Walks in a Forest, — fVinter,.;o 



Although the respectable authority of Gisborne leaves M 

 no reason to doubt the accuracy of the above description, yet 

 the motions of the snipe, when disturbed, in the marshy districts 

 of Somersetshire, are not in exact accordance with it ; the 

 snipe there is usually found in ditches or drainn, and, when dis- 

 turbed, it rises screaming, and generally moves in a rectilinear 

 or slightly curved direction, so as to be readily shot at on the 

 wing : I have not observed in it a disposition to return to the 

 spot whence it arose. Snipes are not often seen before they 

 rise : their motions are of the most active kind. 



The Mc{jor, or Great Snipe, weighs about eighf ounces, 

 and is sixteen inches long ; bill four inches; and similar to that 



