638 CHARADEIID^. 



with dusky blackish ; under tail-coverts more rufescent and barred 

 with blackish ; under wing-coverts white, barred with dusky 

 blackish ; axillaries regularly barred with black and white ; lower 

 primary -coverts and quill-lining ashy grey : " bill dark brown, paler 

 at the base and darker at the tip ; legs, feet, and claws brown ; 

 iris hazel" (H. Seebohm). Total length 10 inches, culmen 2*8, 

 wing 5-2, tail 2*3, tarsus 1*2. 



Adult female. Similar to the male. Total length 105 inches, 

 culmen 2-8, wing b'S. tail 2 - 45, tarsus 1*3. 



Young. Differs from the adult in being more rufous, especially 

 on the throat and neck. The black markings of the back are more 

 broken up and mottled with rufous bars, and the pale outer bands 

 along the scapulars are not so wide. Mr. Seebohm states that 

 young Snipes may be recognized by not having a dark shaft-line on 

 the light tips of the upper wing-coverts, but I have found indica- 

 tions of the latter in quite young birds. Many ornithologists have 

 supposed that there is a second, and more rufous species of Snipe 

 found in England ; but I believe that the differences are merely 

 individual, and in the majority of specimens the rufous colour is due 

 to immaturity. 



The curious "Sabine's Snipe" is apparently only a melanistic 

 form. This dark race has been found chiefly in Ireland, and 

 Mr. Barrett-Hamilton has written a very interesting paper on the 

 subject iu the 'Irish Naturalist' for January 1895. Prom this it 

 appears that out of about fifty-five examples of " Sabine's Snipe " in 

 collections, no less than thirty-one have been obtained in Ireland, 

 twenty-two in England, one in Scotland, while the form has only 

 once been found on the continent of Europe. 



The way in which the axillaries of the Snipe vary in markings is 

 noteworthy. In many specimens they are pure white, and this is 

 especially the case with Eastern birds, for the barring of the axillaries 

 in birds from India, China, or Japan is seldom strongly pronounced, 

 whereas in Western birds the bars on the axillaries are often very 

 regular and distinct, though they vary very much in breadth. Every 

 stage of barring is represented in the series in the British Museum, 

 which shows the axillaries heavily barred, the blackish bars wider 

 than the white ones ; in others the white bars are broader than the 

 dark ones, and they then appear to become whiter and whiter, the 

 bars gradually becoming evanescent and reduced to frecklings, until, 

 in some individuals, these plumes are entirely white. I am inclined 

 to think that the bars decrease in number with the age of the bird, 

 and that the individuals with pure white axillaries are the older 

 birds. Against this idea must be reckoned the fact that the whiter- 

 plumed birds are more frequently found in Eastern localities, as 

 mentioned above, and there may be two races — an Eastern and a 

 Western one, in which case the variation in the marking of the 

 axillaries may be due to an admixture of the strain of the Asiatic 

 Snipe with that of the Western form. 



Nestling. Covered with down of a chestnut colour, interspersed 

 with black along the back, and prettily variegated with silvery 



