SNIPES 20 1 



mens has been more than doubled. In the Irish 

 Naturalist, Jan. 1895, Mr. Barrett Hamilton, review- 

 ing the records, remarked that out of fifty-five 

 examples of Sabine's Snipe existing in collections, 

 thirty-one were obtained in Ireland, twenty-two 

 in England, one in Scotland, and one in France. 

 This bird is now generally regarded as merely a 

 melanistic form of the Common Snipe. 



A ivhite Snipe was shot near Morpeth in Sept. 

 1888 {Zool, 1889, p. 35). F. Bond had another. 



JACK SNIPE. Gallinago gallinula (Linnseus). PI. 22, 

 fig. 7. Length, 7-5 in.; bill, 1-5 in.; wing, 4-25 in. ; 

 tarsus, 0'75 in. 



A regular winter visitant from Scandinavia, 

 arriving usually in the first week of October. 

 Cases are on record in which this bird has been 

 seen in England during the summer months, but 

 there is no satisfactory evidence of its having nested 

 here. John Wolley has given an excellent account 

 of its breeding haunts, and of several nests with 

 eggs found by him in the great marsh of Muonio- 

 niska in Lapland (Hewitson, 3rd ed., ii. p. 357). 

 Wheelwright also has some interesting remarks on 

 the subject {Field, Oct. 28, 1865). 



A black variety, comparable to the melanistic 

 form of the Common Snipe, shot at Staines, was 

 recorded by the late Frederick Bond (Zool., 1862). 



The Jack Snipe has only twelve feathers in the 

 tail, instead of fourteen as in the Common Snipe. 

 Its weight is 2J to 2^ oz. 



