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GALLINAGO MAJOR.
Great Snipe.

Scolopax major, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. N
media, Frisch, Vog., tab, 228.
Gallinago major, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen.
—.__— Montagui, Bonap. Geogr. and Comp
Scolopax palustris, Pall.
——— paludosa, Retz.
gallinacea, Dumont.
Telmatias major, Blas. List of the Birds of K
Scolopax leucurus, Swains. and Rich.

at., tom. i. p. 661.

Zool., vol. xii, p. 51, pl. 8.

. List of the Birds of Eur. and N. Am., p. 52.

ur., Engl. edit. p. 19.
Faun. Bor.-Am., vol, ii, p- 501.

However numerous this species may be on the European continent, England is not the ¢

hich it pays its visits with any degree of certainty.
line of migration ; and hence those whic
deviated from their regular

ountry in which
Our islands are out of its
garded as individuals which have

course, and therefore come under the denomination of accidental visitors. Still
the Great Snipe is far from being a scarce bird

by sportsmen and others.

it regularly breeds, or to w

h occasionally occur must be re

, and an autumn seldom passes without specimens being shot
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
ater treat than a roasted, fat Double Snipe of the year can
and when I tell them that its weight is eight and sometimes nine ounces, they will
readily imagine that such a Snipe is a donne bouche of no ordinary kind. Nearly all the ex
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 aross 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 Swainson, said to have
been received from Hudson’s Bay (a statement which I think is very questionable), is the present bird in its
adult livery.

itself to them ; for, in an epicurean sense, a gre
scarcely be enjoyed ;

amples that have

In its habits and disposition the Great Snipe differs very much from the common species, Gallinago scolo-
pacinus ; it is not so recluse and shy; and it is not gregarious, never being ee 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 oe
the Great Snipe must be regarded as an accidental visitor to our islands. itis low ony py
Brabant, Friesland, and Hanover, and the wet moorlands of Norway and Sweden, ane proba J the
nurseries whence it comes. Independently of these places, it is found oan striae? all parts of
Northern Russia and Western Siberia, which it leaves in autumn for Asia Minor, veal those that ee been
bred further west proceed to Africa, some great flights stopping by the way, in the Pontine Marshes
around Rome and similiar situations. ; -  bikds ooieeat eae eee

I am indebted to Mr. Percy Godman for the skin of a young bird only < ae pe
compared with the young of the Common Snipe at the same age, ee on eee a ae
First, the hair-like feathers which cover the body are longer, the genera ie : i ae ae as
of the head and back are much less complicated and not so pretty ; i : Z i a ee

= . ° He "kK C
approaches as much to the general appearance and es ot Ce ee ry Sa ee
the Common Snipe. Mr. Godman also gave oe some information,
to an artifice adopted by the female of this species to prev

“On walking across the open part of the marsh at
on the 26th of May, we flushed the first Great Snipe.
did not fly more than a few yards before it sce a
it was amongst the brushwood on the borders of the marsh.

ent the discovery of her nest :—

the back of the village of Bodo, in Norway,

This bird had evidently only just arrived, and

Whenever else we observed this species,
A few days after, op pushing our way