380 



SCOLOPAX GALLINULA. THE JACK SNIPE. 



JUDCOCK. JID. 



Scolopax Gailinula. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 244. 



Scolopax Gailinula. Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 715. 



Jack Snipe. Mont. Ornith. Diet. 



Becassine Sonrde. Scolopax Gailinula. Temni. Man. d'Oniith. II. 678. 



Scolopax Gailinula. Jack Snipe. Flem. Brit. Anim. 106. 



Jack Snipe. Scolopax Gailinula. Selb. Illustr. II. 125. 



Scolopax Gailinula. Jack Snipe. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 206. 



Gallinago Gailinula. Bonap. Comp. List, 52. 



Tail pointed, of twelve feathers ; secondary quills acutely 

 pointed; bill about a fourth longer than the head. A longi- 

 tudinal black band, slightly variegated with red on the head, 

 and on each side a reddish-white band, in part divided by a 

 dusky line; on the back three longitudinal bands of black 

 glossed with purple and green and variegated with red, and 

 four bands of pale yellowish-red; sides longitudinally streaked 

 with brown, axillar feathers white, with some faint grey 

 elongated lines. 



Male. — This species, the smallest of those that occur in 

 Britain, is nearly of the same form as the last, having the 

 body compact and rather full, the neck of moderate length, 

 the head much compressed and rounded above. The bill is 

 proportionally shorter and stouter at the base, being only 

 about a fourth longer than the head, straight, nearly twice 

 as high as broad at the commencement, but suddenly nar- 

 rowing, and toward the end depressed ; the upper mandible 

 with the ridge narrow but obtuse, toward the end sulcate, 

 the lateral groove extending nearly to the end, the edges 

 sharp but soft and inflected, the tip blunt ; the lower man- 

 dible with the angle extending almost to the tip, the sides 



