THE GREAT SNIPE 159 



placed on record is one shot at Pickering in North 

 Yorkshire ; this bird scaled 10 oz., a weight equal to 

 that of some woodcocks. Though never fortunate 

 enough to secure possession of a Great Snipe of my own 

 shooting, I have, nevertheless, met with this bird on 

 some two or three occasions. Once, when partridge 

 shooting in the north of England, my shooting com- 

 panion, the curate of the parish, on walking through 

 a field of standing beans, a poor, thin, weed-choked 

 crop, flushed and shot a snipe, which, on examination, 

 proved to be a fine example of the Great Snipe. So 

 far as my recollection serves, this particular bird weighed 

 something over 9 oz. 



THE COMMON SNIPE. (Scolopax media.} 

 This bird is sometimes called "full" or "single" 

 snipe by sportsmen, the more readily to distinguish 

 it from the Great or " double " snipe already described, 

 as also from the Jack or "half" snipe next to be 

 mentioned. The Common Snipe is not by any means 

 rare as a summer resident in Great Britain. It may 

 frequently be found nesting in swampy localities in 

 England, but breeds far oftener in both Scotland and 

 Ireland, where, as is well known, there are more ex- 

 tensive tracts of ground of suitable character. In former 

 times, snipe bred plentifully in the Fen district ; now, 

 however, much of these one-time watery snipe-bogs are 

 smiling cornlands, bearing alternate heavy crops of 

 roots and grain. Thus, perhaps, in that quarter are 

 gone for ever "those good old days" of heavy snipe- 

 bags, plentiful records of which have been left to us 

 by our sporting predecessors. 



