THE GEEAT SNIPE. 
257 
On a full consideration of this interesting question, I ara of opinion 
that we cannot arrive at any satisfactory conclusion until we possess a 
knowledge of the changes which have taken place in the woodcock’s 
former breeding-haunts. 
Mr. Hewitson has remarked that : — “ When wandering through 
those endless pine-woods [of Norway], it was a very rare occur- 
rence to raise a woodcock during the day-time, although in the evening, 
towards sunset, and for hours afterwards, numbers of them were 
constantly flying to and fro over the trees of the forest, uttering a 
kind of chirping note.”* 
Mr. George Matthews, during his sporting excursion along the coast 
of Norway, in 1 843, saw two only of these birds — in the month of 
August, at Bodo — both of which were shot. His notes state that the 
Norwegians seem to know little about woodcocks, and in some places 
will not eat them. They sometimes collect numerously on the south 
coast about Christiania at the beginning of the migratory season, 
but their appearance in large numbers is uncertain. One of his com- 
panions, when in Norway a few years previously, shot three or four in 
the island of Bodo, within the arctic circle, about June. In that month 
of 1843, another of his companions shot some young ones at a place 
called Hund, on the road between Trondjeim and Christiania. My late 
friend observed that, from what he heard, “ they seemed to be much 
scattered over the whole of Scandinavia.” 
THE GREAT SNIPE. 
Solitary Snipe. 
Scolopax major, Linn. 
Has occasionally been obtained in Ireland. 
I HAVE not myself seen any example of this species which had 
been killed here ; but have no doubt of its occasional occurrence 
in various parts of the country. A veteran and observant sports- 
man considers that it must have been this bird which he shot 
several times in the outskirts of Belfast more than half a century 
ago. He describes it as having been always solitary^ and among 
* Eggs, ' Brit. Birds,’ p. 304. 
VOL. II. S 
