COMMON SNIPE— GREAT SNIPE. 161 



There were Curlews, by long bills and wading well 



known ; 

 And the Crow, who to feasting on carrion is prone. 



Unless it be that as its long continuance here is indicative of a 

 severe winter, and as long frost renders, most probably, the 

 earth more fruitful. 



The Gallinago, or Common Snipe, Snipe, or Snite, has a 

 straight bill three inches, body nearly twelve inches long ; the 

 general appearance of the body a variegated brown ; beneath 

 whitish. It migrates partly, and partly breeds in England 

 during the summer. Eggs four or five, olivaceous, spotted with 

 rufous-brown. Flesh excellent, and dressed in the same manner 

 as the woodcock, without taking out the intestines. Found in 

 almost every part of the world. 



" The snipe flies screaming from the marshy verge, 

 And towers in airy circles o'er the wood, 

 Still heard at intervals; and oft returns 

 And stoops as bent to alight ; then wheels aloft 

 With sudden fear, and screams and stoops again, 

 Her favourite glade reluctant to forsake." 



Gisborne, Walks in a Forest, — Winter. 



Although the respectable authority of Gisborne leaves us 

 no reason to doubt the accuracy of the above description, yet 

 the motions of the snipe, when disturbed, in the marshy districts 

 of Somersetshire, are not in exact accordance with it ; the 

 snipe there is usually found in ditches or drains, and, when dis- 

 turbed, it rises screaming, and generally moves in a rectilinear 

 or slightly curved direction, so a3 to be readily shot at on the 

 wing : I have not observed in it a disposition to return to the 

 spot whence it arose. Snipes are not often seen before they 

 rise : their motions are of the most active kind. 



The Major, or Gheat Snipe, weighs about eight ounces, 

 and is sixteen inches long ; bill four inches; and similar to that 



