GALLINAGO MAJOR.
Great Snipe.
Scolopax major, Gmei « l i t Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 6 6 i.
---------- media, Friscfc, Vog., tab. 228.
Gallinatfo major, Stepfo. Cont of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 51, pi. 8.
— Montagm, Bonap. Geogr. and Comp. List o f the Birds of Eur. and N. Am p 52
Scolopax pahatnn. Fall.
— gaffioagta, Dumont.
Tebnaiuu major. Bias. List of the Birds of Eur., Engl. edit. p. 19.
Scokpm ¡mama, Swains, and Rich. Faun. Bor.-Am., vol. ii. p. 501.
Howsvkr numerous this specie* may be on the European continent, England is not the country in which
it regularly breeds, o r to which it pays its visits with any degree o f certainty. Our islands are out o f its
line o f 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 th em ; 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 bouche o f no ordinary kind. Nearly all the examples that have
come under my notice have been birds o f the year, and in this youthful state they differ very considerably
in plumage iron» I He ad u lt, Killed hi spring. I ’he four outer tail-feathers in the young are crossed with
strong zigzag bars ol brown, whereas m the* adult they are snow-white, with square blotches of black
on the external margin time the b&se; Hence the broad white tips o f the outer tail-feathers show very
conspicuously in the otó bird*. 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 o f black on every part o f the under surface of the body.
Montagu’s specimens now in the British Museum, and to which the name o f Montagui was given by
Prince Charles Bonaparte, are young birds o f this species. The Scolopax leucurus o f Swainson, said to have
been received from Hudson’s Bay (a statement which I think is very questionable), is the present bird in its
I» its habita and disposition the Great Snipe differs very much from the common species, Gallinago scolo-
; it is so recluse and sh y ; and it is not gregarious, never being seen in such large flocks,
it rises, it $*« heavily, and soon pitches ag a in ; in a word, it lacks the sprightliness and spirit o f the
Í ■ Snipe; for it has not the quick turning and dashing flight of that species, which rises high in
tin »»»■ malic* <i v.invv of the heavens before it descends to the ground again. I have stated that
the fokpe ruast He regarded as an accidental visitor to our islands. The low swampy grounds of
Brabant, rrteeiMwt, and B ■■■r. and the wet moorlands o f Norway and Sweden, are probably the
nurseries wbemt it come». Independently o f these places, it is found during summer in all parts of
Northern Russia and Western »Siberia, which it leaves iu autumn for Asia Minor, while those th at have been
bred further west p v v - d to A frk i some great flights stopping by the way, in the Pontine Marshes
around Rome and similar «rtiMttiows.
I am indebted to Mr. IV*vy God man for the skin o f a young bird only a few days old, which, when
compared with the young o f the Common S a in t at the saute age, presents some remarkable differences.
First, the hair-like feathers which the body arv^buger, the general tint is lighter, and the markings
of the head and back are much k - - *“ H\plu'aUn\ and not so p re tty ; in a word, the young Double Snipe
approaches as much to the general ¿‘¡mtare and markings o f the Woodcock o f the same age as to
the Common Snipe. Mr. Godman also gave m>me information, which he has since published, relative
to an artifice adopted by the female o f this «»crie» to prevent the discovery o f her n e s t:—
“ On walking across the opfen part o f the marsh at the back of the village o f Rodo, in Norway,
on the 26th o f May, we flushed the first. Great Snipe. This bird had evidently only ju st 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