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I have been considerably exercised as regards the proper specific appellation to be used for the present 

 species. At first I thought that gallinaria of O. F. Muller could be used ; but the description is so very- 

 defective that it must be rejected altogether. Indeed it appears not improbable that the bird he 

 described may have been an immature Ruff. As there can be no doubt that the species to which 

 Prenzel gives the name of Scolopax ccelestis is our Common Snipe, I see no alternative but to use that 

 name, and therefore call it Gallinago ccelestis. 



The Common Snipe is found throughout Europe and Asia, ranging southward into North Africa, 

 the islands in the Bay of Bengal, and the Philippines. In America the common European Snipe 

 is replaced by a very closely allied species, Gallinago wilsoni. 



In Great Britain Gallinago ccelestis breeds in almost every part where there are suitable 

 localities, from the north of Scotland down to the counties bordering the English Channel. 

 Yarrell says that it breeds in Cornwall and Devonshire, and he has received the eggs from 

 Dorsetshire and the New Forest, in Hampshire ; and Captain Feilden informs me that a few 

 pairs breed annually in Woolmer Forest. He did not find the nest this year (1879), but saw 

 and heard the birds drumming during the spring. As may be supposed from the nature of the 

 country, the Snipe breeds not uncommonly in Norfolk and Lincolnshire, but not so numerously 

 as it formerly did previous to the draining of the large fens ; it nests also on many of the moors 

 in the north of England. In Scotland, according to Mr. Robert Gray, the Snipe is an abundant 

 species all over the western counties and both groups of islands, and it nests commonly in the 

 north and some parts of the east of Scotland. Owing probably to the boggy nature of the 

 country, the Common Snipe is much more abundant in Ireland than in Scotland or England, 

 and to some extent is a resident in that island. In England and Scotland it is also indigenous, 

 and is found at all seasons, though, to a large extent, it changes its place of residence at different 

 seasons of the year ; and in the autumn its numbers are considerably augmented by migrants, 

 which probably come from Scandinavia. 



Professor Newton says that it has been so often observed in Greenland that it very likely 

 breeds there. It is fairly abundant in suitable localities in Iceland. According to Faber it 

 arrives the last week in April, and leaves about the middle of October, though a few probably 

 remain through the winter ; for he saw three at a warm spring in hard frost on the 3rd February 

 ]821. It nests numerously in the Fseroes ; and a considerable number remain there during the 

 winter. 



In Norway, Mr. Collett informs me, the Common Snipe is generally distributed throughout 

 the country, although more sparingly on the west coast. In the northern districts it is met 

 with numerously, both on the mainland and the islands ; but in Southern Norway it is chiefly 

 found in the subalpine and alpine regions, and during migration in the lowlands. On the flat 

 portions of the Hvaloer islands it breeds abundantly. It winters in Western Norway, as, for 

 instance, at Bergen and Hardanger. 



In Sweden this Snipe is more or less numerous in the central and southern provinces, but 

 becomes rarer in the north. It arrives in Skane in March, the males preceding the females, and 

 leaves late in September or in October, a few remaining in Southern Sweden over the winter. 



I frequently met with the Common Snipe in Finland, where, according to Palmen (Finl. 



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