THE COMMON SNIPE 
mesial line are pale buff; the quills are brown, the 
secondaries having broad tips of white; the tail is 
chestnut mottled with black, and the same colour at the 
base; the under parts are white suffused with buff, 
barred with chestnut and brown on the neck, breast, 
and flanks. Bull dark brown, paler at the base ; tarsi and 
toes brown; irides brown. Length to inches. The 
young in first plumage do not differ very much from 
their parents in general appearance, but the striping on 
the upper parts is not so pronounced. ‘The young in 
down are dark chestnut, mottled with black and speckled 
with white on the upper parts. 
