

GREAT SNIPE. 21 



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 

 Double Snipes being raised from the nest there ; but 

 these birds require solitude and perfect quiet, and, as their 

 food is peculiar, they demand a great extent of marshy 

 meadow. Their stomach is the thinnest amongst birds of 

 the Scolopax tribe ; and, as I have said before, their food 

 seems to be entirely the larvae of Tipulte,* or congenerous 

 flies." From Mr. Dann I learn that the Great Snipe 

 breeds in considerable numbers in the mountainous parts 

 of Norway and Sweden, as high as the range of birch 

 woods extend. In the Dofre Fi-el, at Jerkin and Fog- 

 stuen, they are numerous on the edges of the grassy 

 swamps, avoiding the wet. They also frequently resort to 

 the borders of the small rills used for irrigating the grass 

 lands. Their nest is placed on a hummock or tuft of grass 

 near the willow bushes on the borders of the swamps. 

 During the pairing-season they fly to a vast height. 

 They make a drumming noise as they descend, which is 

 produced by a slight and peculiar vibration of the wings. 

 Mr. Dann does not consider that the Great Snipe goes to 

 the northward of Drontheim, they leave the more northern 

 parts in August, but are sometimes shot in Sweden, as late 

 as November. Mr. Selby and other observers have re- 

 marked that this Snipe utters no cry when flushed. Mr. 

 Hewitson, in his work on the eggs of British Birds, says, 

 the egg of the Great Snipe is another of the rarities for 



* Tipulae. Flies, known by the more common name of Father Long- Legs; 

 the species of which are very numerous, and in their larva or caterpillar state are 

 too well known for their extensive destruction of the roots of grass, and the con- 

 sequent death of the herbage. 



