250 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



on the crown ; the feathers on the mantle are glossed with purple and the 

 inside webs of the scapulars with green^ whilst the inside webs of the 

 innermost secondaries are plain unbarred brown ; the tail-feathers are 

 nearly uniform in colour, the obscure markings being longitudinal and not 

 transverse. There is even less difference observable in the colour of the 

 underparts, except that the axillaries are pure white, only occasionally 

 clouded with brown — a feature which occurs very rarely in the Common 

 Snipe. Bill brown, palest at the base and darkest at the tip ; legs and 

 feet olive-brown ; claws nearly black ; irides hazel. The differences 

 attributable to age, sex, and season are so slight as to be scarcely per- 

 ceptible. Young in down scarcely differ from those of the Common 

 Snipe. 



WOODCOCK S NEST. 



