Mr. W. C. Tait on the Birds of Portugal. 389 



by this bird with its beak while searching for worms. In my 

 collection I have a very light-coloured Woodcock of a buff 

 shade. On February 26th sixteen Woodcocks were shot in 

 a copse near Vallongo (near Oporto), which looks as though 

 this was a flock on passage north. They have usually disap- 

 peared by the end of Febrnary. 



227. Gallinago major (Gmel.). 



The Double Snipe is said to have been shot once on a grassy 

 knoll near the mouth of the Douro, and there is a specimen 

 in the Lisbon Museum from the Ribatejo. 



228. Gallinago c(ELESTis (Frenzel). "Narceja/^ 



The Common Snipe is very abundant in suitable localities 

 during winter^ a few arriving as early as the middle of August, 

 but the greater number from the middle to the end of Sep- 

 tember, becoming abundant by the month of November. 

 They generally remain till the end of February or begin- 

 ning of March. On one occasion, while out Snipe-shooting 

 at Estarreja, I saw two Snipe rise simultaneously, one from 

 each side of a low mound separating two rice-fields. They 

 converged and cannoned in the air. I never saw this happen 

 on any other occasion, although I have sometimes seen them 

 springing up thickly on all sides. My largest bag of Snipe 

 made near Leiria was twenty-four couple, and had I taken 

 a larger supply of cartridges it might have been greater. 

 This was in a small marsh with good cover, where the birds 

 had not been much disturbed. In February they collect 

 into whisps, previous to departing north. A friend once shot 

 one with a lob-worm in its beak and gullet. 



229. Gallinago GALLiNULA (Linn.). ^' Narceja gallega,'' 

 Caldas do Gerez, Aveiro ; " Serzeta,^^ Aveiro ; " Narseja 

 pequtna,^' Coimbra Museum. 



The Jack Snipe is not so common as the preceding, but is 

 usually met with from November through the winter. It 

 frequents the fine mud Avhere a stream runs into a marsh, 

 and in such a place at Ovar I have found the species rather 

 numerous. 



