SNIPE. 51 



OR A LLA TORES. SCOLOPA CWM. 



PLATE CXCIIL 



SNIPE. 



SCOLOPAX GALLINAGO. 



The Snipe is one of the most common winter visitants of 

 Great Britain, and occurs in greater numbers than any other 

 game bird. Its geographical distribution is so very general, 

 that it would be a difficult task to name a country where the 

 bird is not known, but, owing to its semi-aquatic nature, it is 

 more numerous in some spots than in others. In some parts 

 of Ireland Snipes meet with such suitable ground, that the 

 numbers dispersed about are almost incredible to persons who 

 have not seen them. In the swampy parts of many counties 

 in England, it is as common to find Snipes in October and 

 March, as sparrows in the farm-yard. In Holland the num- 

 bers of this species are also very considerable ; but according 

 to accounts that we receive from travellers in India, and 

 officers who have been stationed there, in the service of the 

 East India Company, the numbers there are so immense as to 

 put Europeans entirely out of conceit with the numbers that 

 are ever met with here. The most remarkable circumstance 

 that we ever heard of in England, connected with Snipe 

 shooting, was that of a gentleman at Chertsey, in Surrey, who 

 killed nineteen Snipes at one shot, with a double-barrelled 

 gun, out of a flock that swept over an osier-bed. 



VOL. V. F 



