212 Allen's naturalist's library. 



numerous tiny blackish spots and a dark patch below the ear- 

 coverts ; the hind-neck and sides of neck sandy-buff, streaked 

 with black ; chin, breast, and abdomen white ; the lower 

 throat, fore-neck, and chest pale sandy-buff, with central spots 

 of black on the feathers ; the sides of the breast and flanks 

 regularly barred with black ; the under tail-coverts sandy-buff, 

 tinged with rufous, and having more or less complete bars of 

 black ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white barred with 

 black, the latter very distinctly banded ; lower primary-coverts 

 and quills below uniform ashy-brown ; bill and feet brown ; 

 iris hazel. Total length, ii inches ; culmen, 2*45; wing, 5*55 ; 

 tail, 2'o ; tarsus, i'35. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male. Total length, 10-5 inches ; 

 culmen, 2*5; wing, 5-3; tail, 2*0; tarsus, 1-5. 



Winter Plumage. — More sandy-buff than in summer, the buff 

 edges to the feathers of the upper surface broader and more 

 conspicuous ; the blackish markings on the fore-neck larger 

 and coarser, and either circular or horse-shoe shaped. 



Young. — Much more rufous than the adults, and having the 

 black of the upper parts more uniform, the lateral edges to the 

 scapular feathers not so distinct ; the inner greater coverts and 

 inner secondaries regularly barred with black and rufous, the 

 bars being of about equal width ; the white tips to the wing- 

 coverts not so distinct and slightly tinged with buff; the sides 

 of the face and hind-neck much more rufous than the adults, 

 and the white upper breast also showing dusky circular bars ; 

 the white outer tail-feathers also barred with dusky-brown. 



Characters. — The Great Snipe is, as might be supposed 

 from its name, a somewhat larger bird than the Common 

 Snipe, though it has a somewhat shorter bill than the latter 

 species. In full plumage it may be distinguished from the 

 Common Snipe by the conspicuous white tips to the wing- 

 coverts, and by the ivhite outer tail-feathers. Young birds with 

 the outer tail-feathers barred, are not so easy to tell, but the 

 ground-colour of these feathers is white in the Great Snipe, 

 and is tawny-rtifoiis in the Common Snipe. The latter has 

 also a white margin to the first primary, and the white tips to 

 the primary-coverts are very small, while the white tips on the 

 secondaries are conspicuous. In the Great Snipe the reverse 



