234 scolopacid^;. 



a few birds which I saw feeding near the road were believed to be 

 of this species. 



A relative has mentioned to me, that when he was leaving Rotter- 

 dam for London a few years ago, in spring, a huge basket con- 

 taining from two to three hundred ruffs was put on board the 

 steamer. The. incessant fighting of these birds proved the grand 

 source of attraction to the passengers during the voyage. Their 

 crib was one great battle-field, in which every individual seemed 

 to be at the same moment engaged, and determined to keep up 

 the warfare as long as life itself lasted. It was a continual 

 battle and treading down of the wounded and dying. About 

 one-half of them were slain before the vessel reached London. 

 On inquiry of the person who had charge of them, " Would it 

 not have been better to place them in smaller baskets ?" the reply 

 was that it would have been quite the same as to the fighting and 

 deaths produced. A number of whimbrels were caged with the 

 ruffs, under the impression, as was said, that they might stay the 

 feud, but, as we have seen, in vain. Several baskets of dead ruffs 

 were also put on board at Rotterdam. Doubtless, many of the 

 departed birds which are annually on sale in spring, at Hunger- 

 ford market, have met with their deaths on the high seas in the 

 manner related. 



The Brown or Grey Snipe. — Macroramphus griseus, Leach ; 

 Scolopax grisea, Gmelin. — Has not been observed in Ireland, but, 

 probably, will yet be so; — neither has it been in Scotland. Six 

 individuals are recorded as obtained in England, from the first noticed 

 in Montagu's 'Ornithological Dictionary,' in 1802, until 1845, when 

 the second edition of Tarrell's ' British Birds ' appeared. Nilsson 

 states that it has been procured in Sweden. Stragglers only, however, 

 have visited Europe. This bird is common on the shores of the 

 United States, &c, of North America. 



