As this bird is rarely seen in England, I shall mention its peculiarities. It is more than one-third larger than the common snipe, and has a breast spotted with gray feathers. Its beak is shorter than that of the snipe; the old ones have feathers almost pure white in their tails, and as they spread them when rising, they are easily distinguished by this character from the snipe; but in the young birds that I have seen in August, this character was wanting. They are usually very fat, particularly the young birds; their weight varies from six to nine ounces; but even the fattest ones are rarely above seven ounces and a half; and though I have killed more than a hundred, I can speak of half-a-dozen only that weighed above eight ounces and a half. In spring they are usually found in pairs, the female being rather larger, and having a paler breast: in autumn they are solitary. They prefer wet meadows to bogs, or large, deep marshes. They usually lie closer than snipes, and seldom fly far. Their flight is straight, like that of a jack snipe, and they are easily shot. Attention to the migrations of birds might, I have no doubt, lead to important indications respecting the character and changes of the weather and the seasons. The late migration of the solitary snipe this year (1828) seems to have been an indication of a wet and backward summer in the north of Europe. But to form opinions upon facts of this kind requires much knowledge and caution. The perfection of the larvæ of the tibulæ on which this snipe feeds depends upon a number of circumstances: the temperature of the last year; the period when the eggs were laid; the heat of the water when they were deposited, and the quantity of rain since. The migration of the solitary snipe is only one link in a great chain of causes and effects, all connected, and extending from Africa to Siberia. Footnote 6: _Lax_ is the Teutonic word for salmon. Footnote 7: I may mention one remarkable instance as an exception, which has recently occurred to me, the 21st of May, 1828. I was fishing in the Save, between Wochain and Veldes, in some deep, clear, bright, green pools. I caught five or six grayling between 15 and 17 inches long, that had all leeches near the tail; they were beautifully coloured, and had probably got these parasitic animals after their spawning, when they reposed. Of course this was the time when they were in their worst season, as they were just beginning to recover from the work of generation. At this time they often rose at and refused the fly, but there were as yet no large flies on the water. The leech was a small greenish dark worm, about an inch or an inch and a half long, like a common leech in form and colour. Footnote 8: Sälmling of the Germans. Footnote 9: Benjamin West. Transcriber’s Notes