378 SCOLOPAX SABINI. 



field, from which, however, it sufficiently differs in its general 

 proportions ; and I find no description of any other extra- 

 European species of true Scolopax which at all approaches 

 it in this character of its plumage. In the number of the 

 tail-feathers, again, which amount to twelve, it differs from 

 Scolopax major, which has sixteen, and agrees with Scolopax 

 Gallinula, which also has hut twelve ; hut it never can be con- 

 founded with that bird, from the great disproportion between 

 the essential characters of both, the bill alone of Scolopax 

 Sabini exceeding that of the latter species by one-third of its 

 length. In the relative length and strength of the tarsi, it 

 equally differs from all. These members, although stouter 

 than those of Scolopax Gallinago, fall short of them by 

 three-twentieths of an inch : they are much weaker, on the 

 other hand, than those of Scolopax major, although they 

 nearly equal them in length. In general appearance it bears 

 a greater resemblance to Scolopax rusticola than to the other 

 European Scolopaces, but it may be immediately recognized 

 as belonging to a different station in the genus ; the two 

 exterior toes being united at the base for a short distance, as 

 in the greater number of the congeneric species ; while those 

 of Scolopax rusticola are divided to the origin." 



" This bird was shot in the Queen's County, in Ireland, 

 by the Rev. Charles Doyne, of Portarlington, in that county, 

 on the 21st of August, 1822, and was obligingly communi- 

 cated to me the same day. I have named the species in 

 honour of the Chairman of the Zoological Club of the Lin- 

 nsean Society, whose zeal and ability have thrown so much 

 light upon the ornithology of the British Islands." 



Another individual is announced by Mr. Vigors in a 

 note : — " Since this communication was read to the Society, 

 I have been enabled to record a second instance of this bird 

 having been met with in the British Islands. On the 26th 

 of October, 1824, a female of this species was shot on the 

 banks of the Medway, near Rochester, and is preserved in 

 the valuable collection of Mr. Dunning, of Maidstone. The 

 specimen was kindly communicated to me by that gentleman, 

 and was exhibited to the Zoological Club on the 23rd of 

 November, 1824. It accords in every particular with the 



