274 CHARADBim/E 



and heavier flight, and expanded fan-like tail ; moreover, it 

 rises without uttering an alarm-note. 



Food. The food consists largely of insects and their 

 larvae, together with worms and slugs ; small grit is also 

 swallowed (Collet). 



Voice. In spring the bird gives utterance to a rather 

 low, hoarse sound ; in autumn and winter it rises and wings 

 its way in silence. 



Nest. The Great Snipe nests on the ground " often 

 among willow-bushes, or in some hillock above the level of 

 a morass or forest-swamp " (Saunders) . The eggs, four in 

 number, are light brownish-grey, blotched with light and 

 dark shades of rich purple-red and brown. 



Incubation takes place about the beginning of June. 



Geographical Distribution. The European breeding- 

 haunts of this species are in Scandinavia, Denmark, Northern 

 Germany, Poland, and Eussia southward to the Black Sea. 

 Eastward it can be traced over Siberia. 



As a bird of passage, it visits the greater part of Tem- 

 perate Europe (though rarer in the Western Countries), 

 Asia, and North Africa. In winter, numbers migrate to 

 the Mediterranean basin, South-western Asia and South 

 Africa. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. The Great Snipe so 

 closely resembles the Common Snipe in its markings that 

 a separate description seems superfluous. As already men- 

 tioned, this species is marked with conspicuous bars of 

 brownish-black across the abdomen, and there is much 

 more white on the lateral tail-feathers than on those of the 

 Common Snipe. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage. 



Adult winter, male and female. Similar to the nuptial 

 plumage, but the buff markings are more distinct. 



Immature, male and female. The outer tail-feathers are 

 barred across both webs, and show less white, and the 

 shading of the plumage is lighter, exhibiting more rufous 

 than in the adult. The markings on the breast and abdo- 

 men are more distinctly ' arrow- headed ' than those of the 

 mature birds. 



BEAK. Light brown at the basal portion, becoming dark 

 brownish-black towards the point. 



