THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
but I do not know that there is any good reason for this belief, for 
many adult birds have been obtained. They begin to arrive in the latter 
part of August, and stragglers continue to come till November, but the 
majority seem to be met with in September and the early part of October. 
They probably do not remain long in Britain, but after resting for a 
while continue their journey southwards. In the west the return migration 
takes place late in April, the birds arriving at their breeding -grounds 
in Scandinavia about the middle of May, but, the shooting season being 
over, few examples have been recorded, and consequently much less is 
known of the spring -movements in our islands. 
In the eastern part of its range the return migration seems to commence 
earlier than in the west, the birds appearing in the Ionian Islands towards 
the end of March, but they do not reach their breeding-grounds in Siberia 
till the first week in June, being among the latest migrants to reach the 
Arctic Circle. Exceptionally large examples of the common snipe, which 
rarely weigh as much as eight ounces, are sometimes mistaken for the 
great snipe, the average weight of which is eight ounces, while in rare 
instances birds of ten ounces have been obtained. 
Distribution in the British Isles. — ^The great snipe has never been known 
to breed in the British Isles. As a visitor it is now perhaps most common 
in the eastern counties of England, though occasionally killed in all parts 
of our islands, but from notes written by Major Walker, and recorded 
by Mr Shaw in the volume on Snipe and Woodcock in the Fur and Feather 
series, it would seem that this species was much more numerous in 
Wexford more than half a century ago, and that three or four were 
sometimes killed during a day’s snipe-shooting. 
Flight. — ^When flushed its flight is slow and straight, and on rising it 
does not twist like the common snipe. It does not fly far, and, like the 
jack snipe, soon drops after covering a distance of perhaps a hundred 
yards. 
Food. — ^The food consists chiefly of worms, small field slugs, and the 
larvae of insects, especially crane-flies, and according to Professor Collett, 
of Christiania, small stones are swallowed. 
Breeding habits. — Unlike the common snipe, the great snipe, though 
it makes short flights when displaying in the breeding-season, does not 
“ drum,” its outer tail-feathers, as has been proved by the experiments 
of Dr Bahr, being incapable of producing any sound. It has, however, 
some peculiar habits which demand notice. 
274 
