106 SALMONIA. [FOURTH DAY. 



in Lincolnshire, the ruff ; and they have, I think, a 

 better flavour from being fed on their natural food. 



HAL. At what time have you eaten them ? 



ORN. I have eaten them both in spring and 

 autumn; but the autumnal birds are the best, and 

 are like the ortolan of Italy. 



HAL Where does the double snipe winter ? 



ORN. I believe in Africa and Asia Minor. They 

 are rarely seen in England, except driven by an 

 east wind in the spring, or by a strong north wind in 

 the autumn. Their natural progress is to and from 

 Finland and Siberia, through the continent of Europe, 

 to and from the east and south.* In autumn they 

 pass more east, both because they are aided by west 



* From the food, and the remains of food found in the stomach of the 

 double snipe, I think I have ascertained, that it requires a kind of worm 

 which is not found in winter even in the temperate climes of Europe ; 

 and that it feeds differently from the snipe. There are certainly none 

 found after the end of October in either Illyria or Italy ; and I believe 

 the same may be said of the end of May, as to their summer migration, 

 or their breeding migration. I have opened the stomachs of at least a 

 dozen of these birds, and their contents were always of the same kind ; 

 long slender white hexapode larvae, or their skins, of different sizes, 

 from that of the maggot of the horse-fly to one thrice as long. I 

 believe all these insects were the larvae of tibulae of different species. 

 In the stomach of the common snipe, which is stronger and larger, I 

 have generally found earth-worms, and often seeds, and rice, and 

 gravel. I conjecture, that, in the temperate climates of Europe, most 

 of the aquatic larvae on which the solitary snipe feeds are converted 

 into flies in the late spring and autumn, which probably limits the 

 period of their migration. In 1827 the solitary snipe passed through 



