an accidental and scarce visitor to any part of the 

 British Islands, though, as in the case of all casual 

 visitors, the annual records of capture vary greatly in 

 number; and I find in ' Yarrell' that 1826 and 1868 

 were notable for the unusual frequency of this bird. 



Throughout Europe the Great Snipe is best known 

 as a bird of double passage. It breeds in Norway, 

 Sweden, Russia as far south as Bessarabia, Northern 

 Germany, Denmark, and, if I am not mistaken, occa- 

 sionally in the Netherlands. But as any details with 

 regard to pairing and nesting-habits could here only be 

 quotations from well-known authors, I will merely state 

 that I gather that these habits much resemble those of 

 the Common Snipe. Most of the records of occurrence 

 of this bird in our country have reference to the months 

 of August, September, and October, and, as may be 

 inferred from its summer haunts, it is more commonly 

 met with in our eastern counties than elsewhere. The 

 only bird of this species that I ever saw on wing in 

 England, rose at my feet from a grassy beau-stubble in 

 Northamptonshire whilst I was reloading my muzzle- 

 loader, after a double shot at Partridges, in September 

 1850. Knowing that the Great Snipe seldom flies to 

 any great distance on first disturbance, I devoted the 

 afternoon to a diligent search for this bird with good 

 dogs ; but in vain, and the next that I know of as a 

 Northamptonshire specimen was killed by my late 

 friend and neighbour, Mr. George Hunt, of Wadenhoe, 

 on September 13, 1880, in one of our meadows. 



To the Ionian Islands and the adjacent mainland the 

 Great Snipe is by no means an uncommon vernal 



