FOURTH DAY.] DOUBLE SNIPE. 107 



winds, and because the marshes in the east of Europe 

 are wetter in that season : and in spring they return, 



Italy and Illyria between the 15th of March and the 6th of May. I 

 heard of the first at Ravenna the 1 7th of March, and I shot two near 

 Lay bach on the 5th of May ; but though I was continually searching 

 for them a fortnight after, I found no more. This year they returned 

 from the north early ; and I saw some in the marshes of Illyria on 

 the 19th of August. In 1828 they were later in their vernal passage, 

 and likewise in their return. I found them in Illyria through May, 

 as late as the 17th, on which day I shot three, and they did not re- 

 appear till the beginning of September. I found one on the 3rd, and 

 three on the 4th, and twenty were shot on the 7th. 



As this bird is rarely seen in England, I shall mention its pecu- 

 liarities. It is more than one-third larger than the common snipe, and 

 has a breast spotted with gray feathers. Its beak is shorter than that 

 of the snipe ; the old ones have feathers almost pure white in their 

 tails, and as they spread them when rising, they are easily distinguished 

 by this character from the snipe ; but in the young birds that I have 

 seen in August, this character was wanting. They are usually very 

 fat, particularly the young birds ; their weight varies from six to nine 

 ounces ; but even the fattest ones are rarely above seven ounces and a 

 half ; and though I have killed more than a hundred, I can speak of 

 half-a-dozen only that weighed above eight ounces and a half. In 

 spring they are usually found in pairs, the female being rather larger, 

 and having a paler breast ; in autumn they are solitary. They prefer 

 wet meadows to bogs, or large, deep marshes. They usually lie closer 

 than snipes, and seldom fly far ; their flight is straight, like that of 

 a jack snipe, and they are easily shot. 



Attention to the migrations of birds might, I have no doubt, lead to 

 important indications respecting the character and changes of the weather 

 and the seasons. The late migration of the solitary snipe this year 

 (1828) seems to have been an indication of a wet and backward summer 

 in the north of Europe. But to form opinions upon facts of this kind 

 requires much knowledge and caution. The perfection of the larvae of 

 the tibulae on which this snipe feeds, depends upon a number of 



