GALLINAGO MAJOR 
Great Snipe. 
Scolopax major, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 661. 
media, Frisch, Vog., tab. 228. 
Gallmago major, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 51, pi. 8. 
Montagiii, Bonap. Geogr. and Comp. List of the Birds of Eur. and N. Am., p. 52. 
Scolopax palustris, Pall. 
paludosa, Retz. 
gallinacea, Dumont. 
Tehnatias major. Bias. List of the Birds of Eur,, Engl. edit. p. 19. 
Scolopax leucurus, Swains, and Rich. Faun. Bor.-Am., vol. ii. p. 501. 
However numerous this species may be on the European continent, England is not the country in which 
it regularly breeds, or to which it pays its visits with any degree of certainty. Our islands are out of its 
line of migration ; and hence those which occasionally occur must be regarded as individuals which have 
deviated from their regular course, and therefore come under the denomination of accidental visitors. Still 
the Great Snipe is far from being a scarce bird, and an autumn seldom passes without specimens being shot 
by sportsmen and others. I have several times purchased the bird in our great poultry-market in Leaden- 
hall Street, and I advise any of my readers not to let the chance slip, if a similar opportunity should offer 
itself to them ; for, in an epicurean sense, a greater treat than a roasted, fat Double Snipe of the year can 
scarcely be enjoyed ; and when I tell them that its weight is eight and sometimes nine ounces, they will 
readily imagine that such a Snipe is a bonne douche of no ordinary kind. Nearly all the examples that have 
come under my notice have been birds of the year, and in this youthful state they differ very considerably 
in plumage from the adult, killed in spring. The four outer tail-feathers in the young are crossed with 
strong zigzag bars of brown, whereas in the adult they are snow-white, with square blotches of black 
on the external margin near the base; hence the broad white tips of the outer tail-feathers show very 
conspicuously in the old birds, as also do the several semicircular bands across the wings, formed by the 
white tippings of the secondaries and wing-coverts. The breeding-individuals further differ from autumn- 
killed young birds, by the stronger markings of black on every part of the under surface of the body. 
Montagu’s specimens now in the British Museum, and to which the name of Montagui was given by 
Prince Charles Bonaparte, are young birds of this species. The Scolopaw leucurus of Swaiuson, said to have 
been received from Hudson’s Bay (a statement wiiich I think is very questionable), is the present bird in its 
adult livery. 
In its habits and disposition the Great Snipe differs very much from the common species, GaUlnago scolo- 
pacinus ; it is not so recluse and shy ; and it is not gregarious, never being seen in such large flocks. 
When it rises, it flies heavily, and soon pitches again ; in a word, it lacks the sprightliness and spirit of the 
Common Snipe ; for it has not the quick turning and dashing flight of that species, which rises high in 
the air and makes a survey of the heavens before it descends to the ground again. I have stated that 
the Great Snipe must be regarded as an accidental visitor to our islands. The low swampy grounds of 
Brabant, Friesland, and Hanover, and the wet moorlands of Norway and Sweden, are probably the 
nurseries whence it comes. Independently of these places, it is found during summer in all parts of 
Northern Russia and Western Siberia, which it leaves in autumn for Asia Minor, while those that have been 
bred further west proceed to Africa, some great flights stopping by the way, in the Pontine Marshes 
around Rome and similar situations. 
I am Indebted to Mr. Percy Godman for the skin of a young bird only a few days old, which, when 
com])ared with the young of the Common Snipe at the same age, presents some remarkable differences. 
First, the hair-like feathers which cover the body are longer, the general tint is lighter, and the markings 
of the head and back are much less complicated and not so pretty ; in a word, the young Double Snipe 
approaches as much to the general appearance and markings of the Woodcock of the same age as to 
the Common Snipe. Mr. Godman also gave me some information, which he has since published, relative 
to an artifice adopted by the female of this species to prevent the discovery of her nest : — 
“ On walking across the open part of the marsh at the back of the village of Bodo, in Norway, 
on the 26th of May, we flushed the first Great Snipe. This bird had evidently only just arrived, and 
did not fly more than a few yards before it settled again. Whenever else we observed this species, 
it was amongst the brushwood on the borders of the marsh. A few days after, on pushing our way 
