158 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



as the middle of October, whilst, presumably, migrating 

 southward to pass the winter. On its return journey 

 northward in spring, this bird rarely reaches these 

 islands. The Great Snipe is far oftenest shot on the 

 eastern side of the country ; only occasionally has it 

 been recorded inland, although sometimes met with as 

 far west as the counties of Cork, Galway, and Mayo, 

 in Ireland. 



Whilst generally regarded as a somewhat rare and 

 irregular visitor, it is highly probable that the Great 

 Snipe is frequently overlooked by the unobservant 

 shooting man, or even if regarded as something unusual, 

 it may as often as not be put down as being merely a 

 remarkably fine specimen of the Common Snipe. That 

 painstaking Norfolk ornithologist, the late Mr. Henry 

 Stevenson, gave most explicit directions for the ready 

 identification of the Great Snipe. He has told us that 

 this species is at once distinguishable from the Common 

 Snipe by the under parts of the plumage being barred 

 throughout, the lower parts of the body in the case of 

 Scolopax media being pure white. Besides this marked 

 difference, it may be mentioned that the legs are some- 

 what stouter in the Great Snipe, and bill shorter in 

 proportion to the size of the bird; this bird also has 

 sixteen tail feathers, whereas the Common Snipe has 

 but fourteen. It may, however, be remarked that this 

 number of tail feathers does not appear to be constant, 

 for Mr. E. H. Rodd has placed it on record, in the 

 Zoologist, that a Great Snipe killed at Camel ford, Corn- 

 wall, had eighteen instead of sixteen feathers in its tail. 

 The weight of the Great Snipe usually ranges from j\ 

 oz. to 8J oz. Remarkably fine birds sometimes exceed 

 this weight by an ounce or more ; the heaviest as yet 



