GRALLATOKES. 187 



near Chichester ; one in the British Museum, from 

 Queen's County, Ireland ; and three Irish specimens 

 in the Dublin University Museum ; and I am in- 

 clined to believe that S. gallinago and ^S*. Sabini are 

 distinct species, for the following reasons : — Firstly, 

 in S. Sabini, there is a total absence of white in the 

 plumage, and none of the buff-coloured markings 

 on the head and back which appear in S. gallinago ; 

 secondty, the number of tail-feathers in S. Sabini is 

 twelve, whereas S. gallinago has fourteen ; thirdly, 

 the tarsus in S. Sabini is stouter and about an eighth 

 of an inch shorter than in S. gallinago ; fourthly, in 

 S. Sabini the eye is placed much higher in the head, 

 as in S. rusticola ; and lastly, if S. Sahini were only 

 a variety of S. gallinago, however dark in colour the 

 feathers might be, the}^ would at all events be of the 

 same shape. But it will be observed that in S. gal- 

 linago the feathers of the back are lanceolate in 

 form, while in S. Sabini they are more ovate ; in 

 this respect more nearlj^ resembling S. rusticola. 



A specimen of Sabine's Snipe is recorded in 

 Morris's 'Game Birds and Wild Fowl' as having 

 been obtained near London. In the winter of 1860- 

 61, two friends were shooting along the Brent, when 

 a Snipe rose, at which they both fired, and the bird 

 fell. On picking it up, they remarked that it was an 

 extraordinarily dark-coloured Snipe, but as it was 

 much shattered it was not thought worth preserving. 

 Some of the feathers, however, were afterwards shown 



