824 GALLINAGO SCOLOPACINA. 



is found in small numbers in all marshy places; Messrs. Davidson and Wender, speaking of the Deccan 

 generally, say that it is commoner than the last species. In the Carnatic it is generally less plentiful than 

 this latter, although in some seasons it has been said to occur about Madras in equal numbers with the " Pin- 

 tail." In the Palanis it is only found in small numbers ; and Mr. Bourdillon says it is less abundant at 

 Trevandrum than its ally. In Upper Burmah, according to Jerdon, they arrive in small numbers as early 

 as July ; but these, I infer, are birds that have not been far north to breed. In Pegu, however, Mr. Oates 

 affirms that the Common Snipe does not appear till December, and is then not so plentiful as G. stenura. In 

 the Irrawaddy Delta Dr. Armstrong did not meet with it ; and in Tenasserim it is a rare visitant to the " central 

 portions of the province and the tract west of the Sittang river." Further south, in the Malay Peninsula, it 

 is a rare straggler, having been recorded solely from Malacca. It is likewise the same to the Audamans, 

 Mr. Davisou having met with only one example. 



It is a winter visitor to China, Hainan, and Formosa according to Swinhoe. In Formosa he met with it 

 as early as the 22nd October ; in Hainan he obtained it in February. It has been obtained in the Philippines 

 in the island of Luzon, where Dr. Meyer met with it iu the month of February. 



In summer it wanders north to breed, and has been obtained on the Arctic circle by Mr. Seebohm. At 

 Obdorsk also Dr. Finsch met with it, observing it likewise near lakes in the vicinity of Kara Bay. Schrenck 

 met with it on the Lower Amoor in June ; aud it has been obtained on the Schilka in May. Middendorff 

 procured it far up in the north-east of Siberia, finding it breeding on the Boganida, near Taimyr-land ; and 

 he obtained an example as early as the 29th of April in a mountain-brook on the western slopes of the Stanowoi 

 Mountains. There is no reason, therefore, to doubt that it does not reach the very confines of North-eastern 

 Siberia in its migration, and it will probably be found some day on the Anadir river. It is common throughout 

 Japan, according to Mr. Blakiston; and Mr. Whitely likewise records it from Hakodadi. Many Snipe, 

 however, breed in the highlands of Central Asia. We have SevertzofFs authority for it nesting throughout 

 Turkestan ; and Dr. Scully found it breeding at Yarkaud, taking its eggs in June. In Persia, writes 

 Mr. Blanford, it is common in suitable localities, and was obtained by him at 3000 feet above the sea. In 

 Palestine it was only observed by Canon Tristram in winter, leaving the country before June. In Southern 

 Europe and the Mediterranean islands it is common in winter; but it moves north in summer, and does not, 

 as a rule, breed south of Central Germany, although the mountains of Transylvania are, according to Bieltz, 

 an exception to this. Col. Irby writes that it leaves Spain entirely by the first week in April, returning again 

 as early as the beginning of September. Mr. A. G. More, in his ' Distribution of Birds in Great Britain 

 during the Nesting-season/ says that it breeds regularly in almost every county in England ; but it is of course 

 far more numerous in the summer in the north and in Scotland than in any of the southern counties. In 

 Wales it likewise nests in many localities ; and in Cardiganshire a considerable proportion of Snipe are resident 

 and county-born. 



Turning lastly to Africa, we find Favier, as recorded by Col. Irby, stating that this Snipe is common 

 round Tangier from October till February. In Algeria Mr. Gurney found it common ; and iu Egypt and Nubia 

 Captain Shelley states that it is generally distributed and abundant where there is suitable ground. In large 

 marshes in Lower Egypt he has killed more than forty couple in a day. At the end of March they decrease; 

 but some isolated examples are to be met with, says Von Heuglin, in Lower Egypt during the summer months. 

 This author states that they are most numerous in Lower and Central Egypt in spring, and that in the winter 

 they retire southwards to the Blue and the White Nile and to Abyssinia; iu October he met with Snipe at the 

 Dobar springs, in the Somauli territory. Iu Western Africa it has been obtained in Gambia ; and Bolle 

 records it as a winter visitant to the highlands of the Canary Islands. In the Azores Mr. Godman met with 

 it in Flores, where it frequents moist places in the mountains. According to Professor Baird it is common 

 in South Greenland; and he records likewise the capture of one example in Bermuda. 



Habits. — In its economy the Common European Snipe resembles the last bird, but is, perhaps, a more 

 persistent adherent to marshes, the edges of streams, bogs, morasses, and permanently moist places. Finsch, 

 however, found it living in the Kara-Bay district, North-western Siberia, on dwarf-bireh-covered land, which 

 shows that it is uncertain in its likes and dislikes in the breeding-season. It is chiefly a nocturnal feeder, 

 and is found when looked for in the spots on which it has settled down in the early morning. On being 



