The Great Snipe. ^°9 



quoted in Dresser, " B. of E." vii, 635. The Great Snipe is a nocturnal bird in 

 great measure, and a remarkably silent one, never, in my experience, uttering a 

 note wlien flushed, as the Common Snipe nearly always does. The only note 

 (for which see Collett) appears to be uttered at the " playing place." But I was 

 much surprised by a peculiarity of this bird, when I first came across it, though 

 I have siuce met with several references to it by other observers. I was making 

 my way through a thick willow marsh on the Dovrefjeld, and heard, some score 

 of yards to my right, a rapid snapping noise, similar to that produced by drawing 

 the thumb-nail across the teeth of a comb. I felt sure that it must be made by 

 a bird, and stopped to listen; the noise ceased instantly too. I took a step or 

 two, it began again, stopping when I did. After this had been repeated a few 

 times, I made my way to the spot from which the sound appeared to come, and 

 a Great Snipe rose, which I shot. I could see no other bird there, and came to 

 the conclusion that the peculiar sound was made by the Great Snipe's bill, and 

 that the bird was showing its objection to the disturbance caused by my forcing 

 my way through the thick willow scrub. 



The flight of the Great Snipe is heavier, slower, and more direct than that 

 of the Common Snipe, making it an easy bird to shoot. As a rule, it frequents 

 drier places (during the day) than that bird, being found on dry grassy or bushy 

 ground, bracken, or heath ; in this country, usually in turnip or potato fields. 

 The food appears to consist of larvae, especially the "leather-jacket" grub of the 

 crane-fly, usually known as "daddy-long-legs," and .of slugs and worms; but I 

 have never found anything recognizable in the digestive canal. The Great Snipe 

 appears to be decreasing in many of its haunts : Collett is of this opinion with 

 regard to Norway, and the bird is such an excellent one for the table, so much 

 more looked after nowadays, and so comparatively easy to shoot, that the circum- 

 stance is not surprising. Great Snipes get so fat in the early autumn, that 

 falling to the shot not uncommonly bursts the thin skin. 



