visitor, generally appearing in the first fortnight of 

 May, and evincing a very remarkable predilection for 

 certain small areas of, in many cases, unattractive 

 ground. In Corfu, for instance, I was directed to 

 look for this bird in a certain patch of currant-vines 

 not far from the town, on a stony, dry soil, as soon as 

 the Quails had come in, and from the beginning of 

 May till about the middle of that month I never visited 

 this spot without finding two or more of these Snipes ; 

 five was the greatest number that I ever met with there 

 in one day. I do not wish it to be understood that 

 our bird is by any means exclusively addicted to dry 

 localities, as I shot several amongst the swampy currant- 

 vines in the well-known Val di Roppa, a famous Snipe- 

 ground at about seven miles distance from the town of 

 Corfu, as well as in marshes in other parts of Europe, 

 but on the vernal migration in the Mediterranean 

 countries it would be difficult, in my experience, to say 

 where one might not " happen upon " a Great Snipe. 

 In the low-lying maize-fields of Epirus we frequently 

 found a few of these Snipes in September, but as 

 frequently searched for them at that season without 

 success. In Cyprus 1 shot several near Larnaca in 

 April and May. I killed one and flushed another on 

 the east coast of Spain in March, met with several in 

 the marshes of Sicily during the same month ; and here 

 ends my personal acquaintance with the subject of this 

 article. 



I quote from my notes in the ' Northamptonshire 

 Natural History Society's Journal' as to the habits of 

 this species : — This Snipe will often run before a dog 



