2S6 THE GREAT SNIPE 



sights of the evening, at all seasons of the year, to watch the Wood- 

 cocks repairing from the woods to their accustomed feeding- 

 ground. 



The nest is built of dry leaves, principally of fern, and placed 

 among dead grass, in dry, warm situations, and contains four eggs, 

 which, unlike those of the Snipes, are nearly equally rounded at 

 each end. 



There have been recorded numerous instances in which a 

 Woodcock has been seen carrying its young through the air to 

 water, holding the nestling between her thighs pressed close to her 

 body. 



During its flight, the Woodcock invariably holds its beak pointed 

 in a direction towards the ground. Young birds taken from the 

 nest are easily reared ; and afford much amusement by the skill 

 they display in extracting worms from sods with which they are 

 supplied. The Woodcock is found in all countries of the eastern 

 hemisphere where trees grow ; but it is only met as a straggler 

 on the Atlantic coast of the United States. 



THE GREAT SNIPE . ^ 



gallinAgo major 



Crown black, divided longitudinally by a yellowish white band ; a streak of 

 the same colour over each eye ; from the beak to the eye a streak of dark 

 brown ; upper plumage mottled with black and chestnut-brown, some 

 of the feathers edged with straw-colour ; greater wing-coverts tipped 

 with white ; under parts whitish, spotted and barred with black ; tail 

 of sixteen feathers ; bill brown, flesh-coloured at the base. Length 

 eleven and a half inches. Eggs brownish olive, spotted with reddish 

 brown. 



The Great Snipe, Solitary Snipe or Double Snipe, is intermediate 

 in size between the Woodcock and Common Snipe. Though not 

 among the rarest of our visitants, it is far from common. It is, 

 however, an annual visitor, and is seen most frequently in the 

 eastern counties in the autumn. Its principal resorts are low damp 

 meadows and grassy places near marshes, but it does not frequent 

 swamps Uke its congeners. This difference in its haunts implies a 

 different diet, and this bird, it is stated, feeds principally on the larvae 

 or grubs of Tipulae (known by the common name of Father Daddy- 

 Long-legs), which are in smnmer such voracious feeders on the roots 

 of grass. It breeds in the northern countries of Europe, and in 

 some parts of Sweden is so abundant that as many as fifty have 



