SNIPES 199 



visitant. R. Gray has noted several instances of its 

 occurrence both in the eastern and western counties, 

 and Mr. R. Service of Dumfries informed me that 

 one was shot at Teregles in his county, Oct. 2, 1896, 

 weighing 7i oz. 



COMMON SNIPE. Gallinago media, Leach. PL 22, 

 figs. 6, 6a. Length, 10-5 in. ; bill, 275 in. ; wing, 5-25 

 in. ; tarsus, 1*25 in. 



A regular winter visitant, but many annually 

 remain to breed in suitable localities. As to the 

 large russet variety, for which Gould suggested the 

 name G. russata, see Stevenson, " Birds of Norfolk," 

 vol. ii. p. 331; Rodd, Zool, 1855, p. 4704; Gat- 

 combe, Zool, 1862, p. 7938 ; Blake Knox, Zool, 

 1866, p. 302; Brooking Rowe, Zool, 1866, p. 97; 

 and Rodd, Zool, 1880, p. 23. 



A remarkable paper on the " drumming " of the 

 Snipe by Herr Meves, translated from the Swedish 

 by Wolley, will be found in the Proc. Zool Soc. for 

 1858, p. 199. In this paper the author attributes 

 the peculiar sound known as humming, drumming, 

 and bleating, to the vibration of the outer tail 

 feathers ; but from repeated observation I am per- 

 suaded that it is caused by the vibration of the 

 primaries, and in this opinion I am supported by 

 Macgillivray, Jardine, Selby, Saxby, John Hancock, 

 and Abel Chapman. (See " Essays on Sport and 

 Nat. Hist.," 1883, pp. 285-294, and Stevenson, 

 Trans. Norf. Nat. Soc, iv. p. 486, 1889.) 



Stevenson states (vol. ii. p. 318) that the first 



