135 



GEEAT SNIPE. 



SOLITARY SNIPE. DOUBLE SNIPE. TSNID, OF THE WELSH. 



Scolopax major, ..... Lnrtf^us. 



Grande Becassine, ..... Temmtnck. 



Scolopax. Sklops — A stake, from the form of the bill. Major — Greater. 



The Great or Solitary Snipe is usually considered as only a straggling visitor to these 

 islands from the high northern latitudes in which it breeds. By far the greater number 

 of specimens have been obtained in the autumn and early winter months, and these would 

 seem to be merely stragglers from the great body which, Mr. Selby thinks, migrate to 

 countries considerably to the eastward of England. 



In England they occur not uncommonly in Norfolk, as stated by Mr. Yarrell, on the 

 authority of the Rev. R. Lubbock, who says, "I have known more than twenty specimens 

 come under my own observation in the same season; but I cannot remember a single 

 instance where this Snipe has occurred in spring : I have made many inquiries, and have 

 invariably found them occurring in autumn, generally early in the season, often in Sep- 

 tember." The Reverends A. and H. Matthews have recorded that "a few specimens of 

 the Great Snipe have at different times been killed in this part of the country, (Oxford- 

 shire.) The last of these was shot on the banks of the Isis, close to the city of Oxford, 

 in 1839, by a servant of Worcester College." The time of the year is not mentioned. 

 They have also been shot in Cornwall, Devonshire, Oxfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, and 

 Lancashire; and probably in many other counties. 



They have been met with in Wales. 



In Scotland it is very rare. 



In Ireland they have been frequently procured, and a number of instances are recorded 

 by Mr. Thompson; who, however, considers it a rare visitor. We make the following 

 extract from his valuable work, relating to the occurrence of this bird in the county of 

 Wexford: — "In November, 1836, Captain (now Major) T. Walker, of Belmont, Wexford, 

 wrote to me respecting the occasional occurrence of the Solitary Snipe in that county, 

 where he had not however met with it since 1830 or 1831. Being farther questioned, 



