302 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
Lubbock, however, mentions having scen on one occa- 
sion a gigantic snipe, which was then in the hands of 
a Norwich birdstuffer, and which weighed “very 
nearly eight ounces, although it was not unusually 
fat.’ As compared with the solitary he says “it 
was plainly a longer and a larger framed bird,” but 
in all respects, except in size, “it was a veritable 
Scolopaz gallinago.” Curiously enough this bird 
was also shot near Horning Ferry. Mr. Gould, who 
has seen my specimen, considers that it may be the 
fully adult of his Gallinago russata, or “russet snipe,”’* 
a name which he proposes in his “Birds of Great 
Britain” for this large race of snipes (of which 
examples have been killed in other parts of the United 
Kingdom),+ should it hereafter be considered worthy 
* A specimen of this snipe, presented to the Norwich Museum 
by Mr. Robert Birkbeck (‘“ British Series,” No. 234b), and said to 
have been killed in the West of England, measures three inches 
and one-eighth along the upper mandible, but shows much less 
white on the under parts, and is altogether more russet in tint than 
mine, and is apparently a less mature bird. 
+ In the “Zoologist”’ for 1855 (p. 4704) Mr. E. H. Rodd, of 
Penzance, describes a “supposed new snipe,” of which he had 
occasionally met with examples since the year 1854. His descrip- 
tion agrees very nearly with my bird, although I could scarcely 
term the dorsal stripes narrower and “ more obscure” than is usual 
in the common snipe; the very dark tints of the back, the rich 
rufous of the neck and shoulders, and the more “ striated” flanks, 
are all marked features in the Norfolk bird; and he also refers to 
the general richness of colouring in these snipes, even when 
killed in mid-winter. Mr. Gatcombe, of Plymouth, having ex- 
amined two snipes similar to those described by Mr. Rodd, remarks, 
in the “ Zoologist”’ for 1862 (p. 7938), upon their peculiar features, 
but states that “the bill and tarsi especially appear very short when 
compared with the large size of the body,’ which in my specimen 
is certainly not the case. He adds, however, that “all sports- 
men, who have killed the bird remark that it rises without noise.” 
(See also the “ Zoologist” for 1866, pp. 97 and 302; and the “Field,” 
of November 28th, 1868). 
