0)1 the Occurrence of the Great Snipe near Glasgovj. 185 



the occurrences are so few and uncertain that, for the present 

 at any rate, we would scarcely be justified in classing it as 

 other than an irregular visitor on spring and autumn migra- 

 tion, though it is highly probable that the bird is not unfre- 

 quently shot by sportsmen who do not discriminate between 

 it and the common species — its larger size exciting little or 

 no surprise in view of the great variation known to exist in 

 this respect among individuals of our native snipe. 



An examination of the records of the occurrence of the 

 great snipe in our islands shows that it has been observed 

 far oftener in autumn than in spring; and, indeed, the chief 

 interest attaching to the two specimens which form the sub- 

 ject of this note, is that they are believed to be the first 

 which have been obtained in Scotland in the latter season of 

 the year. The fact that they were a pair, male and female, 

 and that they occurred at a time when all our native birds 

 were in the midst of the duties of incubation, might not 

 unnaturally lead to the supposition that they would have 

 nested with us had they been allowed to remain unmolested, 

 but when we bear in mind that it is one of the last birds to 

 arrive on its breeding grounds in the north of Europe — only 

 passing Gibraltar in the latter part of April, and not reaching 

 Scandinavia before the middle or end of May, or even till 

 the first week of June in the Arctic Circle — there can be little 

 doubt that they were merely resting on their northern journey. 



Eeports of the occurrence of the great snipe in Scotland, 

 which now and again reach our ears, cannot, in the absence of 

 the usual evidence, be as a rule founded upon ; and I think 

 I am within the mark in saying that there are not more than 

 seven or eight authentic specimens hitherto on record. 

 Among them is one which was obtained at Torhousemuir, 

 Wigtownshire, on the 5th of September 1874, and exhibited at 

 a meeting of this Society by the late Dr J. A. Smith on 17th 

 November following. The species appears to have occurred 

 rather oftener on the east than on the west side of the 

 country, but I am not aware of any record of its occurrence 

 in the Lothians, though it has been obtained two or three 

 times in Fifeshire, once in Eoxburghshire,^ and once in Ber- 

 1 On 15tli September 1886 I saw a fine specimen (a male) in the hands of 



