2 
COMMON SNIPE. 301 
be said to be about four ounces, but Mr. Lubbock 
states that out “of twenty-one couples killed the 1st of 
December, 1829, the snipes being at that time in very 
high condition, six birds weighed five ounces each, two 
five and a half ounces each, and one bird within a hair 
of six ounces.” 
There is, however, as I have stated in my account 
of Scolopax major, a large race of the common species, 
of which several examples have been killed, to my 
knowledge, in Norfolk. In my own collection is one 
of these, which I shot at Horning on the 23rd of 
November, 1853, when, as before stated, the flooding 
of the low lands had caused extraordinary numbers 
to congregate on the higher level. This bird rose 
slowly and heavily like a woodcock, and uttered no 
ery, and when I shot it, I fully believed I had killed a 
solitary snipe, until I saw the white feathers on the 
under parts of the body. Two others of equal propor- 
tions were shot at the same time, which I regret to say 
were not preserved. In comparing my specimen, an 
adult female, even with a male of Scolopax major, it 
appears to stand as high on its feet, and measures 
about the same in total length, but great as are its 
proportions as compared with ordinary specimens of the 
common species, it wants the somewhat woodcock aspect 
of the solitary snipe. Like the common snipe it has 
only fourteen feathers in the tail, the white of the 
under parts is pure, but much barred on the flanks, 
and the rest of the plumage particularly rich in colour, 
with the dorsal stripes fairly defined. The most re- 
markable feature, however, is the beak, which measures 
exactly three inches and a quarter, whilst in a speci- 
men of the solitary snipe the beak is only two inches 
and five-eighths, and the same in an average sized 
female of the common snipe. Being in rather poor 
condition it weighed only a little over six ounces, Mr, 
2u2 
