240 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



Great Snipe the white tips of the wiug-coverts are much more conspicuous, 

 and the underparts are more profusely barred. The chief distinction lies in 

 the tail : in the adult Great Snipe the terminal half of the four outside tail- 

 feathers on each side is pure unspotted white ; in the Common Snipe it is 

 chestnut-buff, with a subterminal dark brown bar. Bill, legs, feet, and 

 claws brown ; irides hazel. The female is indistinguishable in colour from 

 the male. After the autumn moult tlie pale margins and bars on the upper 

 parts are broader and more buff, and the underparts are also more buff. 

 Young in first plumage are difficult to distinguish from adults ; the margins 

 of the feathers of the upper parts are narrow as in summer plumage, but are 

 as dark a buff as in winter plumage, whilst the underparts are even more 

 buff than at that season. The four outer tail-feathers are white in ground- 

 colour like those of the adult, but are barred as in the Common Snipe. 

 It is not known that birds of the year are distinguishable ft'om adults, the 

 colour of the wing-coverts being almost the same in adults at all seasons 

 as in young in first plumage. Young in down closely resemble those of 

 the Common Snipe, but are less rufous in colour, especially on the under- 

 parts. 



