CHARADRIIDA. 571 
THE GREAT SNIPE. 
GALLINAGO MAJOR (J. F. Gmelin). 
The Great, Double, or Solitary Snipe as it is often called, is an 
annual visitor in small numbers to the eastern and southern por- 
tions of England; the arrivals—chiefly of young birds—being 
generally between the middle of August and the middle of October. 
In the central and western districts the species is far less frequent ; 
while, as regards the spring migration, only three examples from 
East Anglia seem to be on record. In Scotland about a dozen 
authentic specimens have been obtained, at long intervals: two of 
them in May. As regards Ireland, Mr. Williams, the well-known 
taxidermist in Dublin, is aware of only five occurrences, and three 
of these in the west ; though more than a dozen large specimens of 
the Common Snipe have been forwarded to him for preservation, 
under the belief that they belonged to the rarer species. 
The Great Snipe breeds in the lowlands and also on the fells of 
Scandinavia up to about lat. 70° N., as well as in Denmark (rather 
freely in Jutland), some parts of Northern Germany, and, sparingly, 
in Holland. In the marshy districts of Poland to the east of the 
Vistula, as well as in Russia down to Bessarabia, it nests freely ; and 
Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Seebohm found it in abundance as far 
north as the delta of the Petchora. Over the rest of Europe it 
occurs on passage, though it is scarcely known in the west of France, 
