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I never heard the drumming noise of the Snipe in Andalucia — though at home in England I have 

 occasionally heard them drumming of an evening in the New Forest as early as the 20th of 

 January, the weather then being unusually mild, and the place where I heard them being their 

 regular nesting-ground. I have often noticed that, in the marshes both in Morocco and Anda- 

 lucia, the best ground for Snipe was a spot where sedges and rushes had been burnt during the 

 summer ; but the consequent absence of cover in these places rendered it useless to try and walk 

 up to the birds, and the only way was to stand or sit perfectly still in the most favourite spot 

 and await their return. I have more than once taken a chair down, and sat in it, waiting for 

 their flight overhead, much to the astonishment of the native population, who could not under- 

 stand such a proceeding." 



In Savoy it occurs on passage in the spring and autumn ; and in Italy it is tolerably, and at 

 times very abundant during the autumnal migration. It is supposed to have bred in some of 

 the northern provinces ; but there does not appear to be any proof that its nest has been found 

 there. It is more numerous on passage than at other seasons in Sardinia, and is extremely 

 abundant in the marshes ronnd Oristano and Cagliari, some remaining throughout the winter 

 in swampy localities. Mr. C. Bygrave Wharton says (Ibis, 1876, p. 27) that the Common Snipe 

 is very numerous during the winter in Corsica ; a few were seen on the west coast in March ; and 

 two were seen at Biguglia in the middle of April. 



In Southern Germany Gallinago coslestis is said to be much rarer than in Northern 



Germany. Dr. Fritsch says that only stragglers occur in Bohemia. It has, he says, been 



obtained near Podebrad, Pardubic, Koniggratz, Trauenberg, &c. ; but he never saw it offered for 



sale in the Prague market. Mr. Seidensacher says that it appears near Cilli, in Styria, late in 



August, and a few remain there throughout the winter ; and in Austria and Hungary it breeds 



in swampy localities, and remains singly over winter in open places, but is by far most numerous 



on the two seasons of passage. In Southern Russia it occurs chiefly on passage ; but Mr. Goebel 



says (J. f. O. 1871, p. 139) that he found it breeding in the large marshes of Krasnosteno and 



Sokolow (in the Northern Uman district). In 1868 three individuals remained all the winter at 



a warm spring near Uman. In Turkey and Asia Minor it is found in some numbers in the 



winter ; and Dr. Kriiper speaks of it as being abundant near Smyrna. This gentleman says also 



that it is common in Greece, and has been observed as late as the end of May in the marshes of 



Marathon, but it is not known to have bred there. Lord Lilford informs me that he found a 



few Snipes in the marsh at Suda Bay, in Crete, in April 1875, and a small sprinkling in various 



places in Cyprus later in the same year. The last he observed was seen near Limasol in May. 



Canon Tristram met with the Common Snipe in Palestine ; and in North-east Africa, according 



to Von Heuglin, it appears in great numbers in the spring and autumn in Lower and Central 



Egypt, where it is found on the banks of lagoons, in swampy meadows, canals, ponds, &c. &c. 



In the winter it passes further south, to the White and Blue Nile and Abyssinia. In October he 



met with it at the springs of Dobar, in the Somali country, and in the spring in Arabia Petrsea. 



In Lower Egypt stragglers are now and again seen in the summer. Blanford found it common in 



the winter in the highlands of Abyssinia ; and it was tolerably numerous near Lake Ashangi as late 



as the commencement of May. Captain Shelley says (Birds of Egypt, p. 249) : — " The Common 



Snipe ranges throughout Egypt and Nubia, and is very abundant wherever there is suitable 



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