THE GREAT SNIPE. 257 



On a full consideration of this interesting question, I am of opinion 

 that we cannot arrive at any satisfactory conclusion until we possess a 

 knowledge of the changes which have taken place in the woodcock's 

 former breeding-haunts. 



Mr. Hewitson has remarked that : — " When wandering through 

 those endless pine-woods [of Norway], it was a very rare occur- 

 rence to raise a woodcock during the day-time, although in the evening, 

 towards suuset, and for hours afterwards, numbers of them were 

 constantly flying to and fro over the trees of the forest, uttering a 

 kind of chirping note."* 



Mr. George Matthews, during his sporting excursion along the coast 

 of Norway, in 1843, saw two only of these birds — in the month of 

 August, at Bodo — both of which were shot. His notes state that the 

 Norwegians seem to know little about woodcocks, and in some places 

 will not eat them. They sometimes collect numerously on the south 

 coast about Christiania at the beginning of the migratory season, 

 but their appearance in large numbers is uncertain. One of his com- 

 panions, when in Norway a few years previously, shot three or four in 

 the island of Kodo, within the arctic circle, about June. In that month 

 of 1843, another of his companions shot some young ones at a place 

 called Hund, on the road between Trondjeim and Christiania. My late 

 friend observed that, from what he heard, " they seemed to be much 

 scattered over the whole of Scandinavia." 



THE GREAT SNIPE. 



Solitary Snipe. 



Scolopax major, Linn. 



Has occasionally been obtained in Ireland. 



I have not myself seen any example of this species which had 

 been killed here ; but have no doubt of its occasional occurrence 

 in various parts of the country. A veteran and observant sports- 

 man considers that it must have been this bird which he shot 

 several times in the outskirts of Belfast more than half a century 

 ago. He describes it as having been always solitary, and among 



* Eggs, ' Brit. Birds,' p. 304. 

 VOL. II. S 



