AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 53 



1864. In autumn the Great Snipe may be met with 

 from the Caspian Sea to the Tagus, and is a winter 

 visitor to S. Africa. 



This bird does not appear to have any special 

 predilection for the wet and swampy marshes so dear 

 to the Common Snipe, and in Corfu we often met 

 with it whilst Quail-shooting on perfectly dry ground 

 amongst the currant-vines. In Cyprus we found 

 two or three for about ten days in a rushy spot near 

 Larnaca, on the borders of a rivulet caused by leakage 

 in the aqueduct that supplies that town with water. 

 We killed one or two each day that we visited this 

 spot during those days, finding fresh arrivals on every 

 occasion. 



This Snipe will often run before a dog for some 

 distance before taking wing, and is usually very 

 tame, rising with apparent reluctance, and oifering 

 the easiest of shots. If not shot at, the Great Snipe 

 generally flies low for a short distance, rises for a 

 few yards into the air, and pitches straight down to 

 the ground. I never saw one of these birds mount 

 high, or indulge in the wild erratic flight so frequent 

 with the Common Snipe. 



The flesh of the Great Snipe is excellent, and 

 much sought after wherever the bird is known. 



I have been told by a friend, formerly in the 

 military service of the Czar, of very large numbers of 

 these birds brought to bag within easy reach of 

 St. Petersburg in August and September. He assured 

 me that in those parts bags of from fifty to eighty 

 Great Snipes were often brought home, killed by 

 one or two guns, and the latter number occasionally 

 exceeded. 



It was never my good fortune to see more than 



