AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 55 



neighbourhood, and I have occasionally flushed two 

 simultaneously. 



The heaviest Great Snipe that I ever weighed 

 pulled down a fraction over 8J oz. ; the lightest that 

 I ever heard of w^as killed in the spring of 1888 in 

 Cyprus, and only reached 5f oz., a weight occasionally 

 exceeded by our common species. 



Double, Single, and Half Snipe are appellations 

 occasionally bestowed upon our three British species 

 respectively, but I think that the subject of this 

 article is better known by the misnomer Solitary 

 than by any other more appropriate designation. 



The eggs of the Great Snipe are very large for the 

 size of the bird, and the Editor of 4th ed. of Yarrell 

 opines that many eggs of the Reeve [Machetes 

 'pugnax^ $ ) are, or have been, sold to collectors as 

 those of this species. 



146. COMMON SNIPE. 



Scolopax media. 



Although we have not as yet discovered that this 

 well-known bird has ever been ascertained to nest in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of Lilford *, I shall be 

 able to adduce good evidence of its having done so 

 of late years, in at least one instance, at no great 

 distance from us ; and in the Soke of Peterborough 

 I am given to understand that it still breeds regularly 

 in small numbers. The evidence alluded to above 

 was kindly given to me in a letter from Mr. H. 

 Capron of Southwick, who therein informed me that 



* I have reason to believe that I was intentioually imposed upon 

 in this matter. 



