[ 433 J 



LXXI. A Dt'soijji/on oj' a iicxi: SjJccies of iscolopax latcli/ dis- 

 covered in the British Islands : loifh Observations on the Anas 

 glocitans of Pallas, and a Description of the Female of that 

 Species. Bjj N. A. Vigors, Esq. A.M.F.L.S.* 



T^HE Natural History of these islands has been studied with 

 ■*• so much science and assiduity, and the investigation at- 

 tended with so much success, that any addition to the num- 

 ber of" our species, more particularly in the higher classes of 

 the V'ertebrated Animals, must be of rare occurrence, and 

 productive of considerable interest. It is therefore v. ith much 

 pleasure that I submit to this Society the following description 

 of a species of Scolopax, new to the Ornithology of the British 

 Islands; and of a species of the Linntean genus Anas, which, 

 from its having been until recently but once only observed in 

 this country, and from the specimen which was described not 

 being at present in existence, or ca[)able of being referred tc, 

 has been for some time considered as possessing but a doubt- 

 ful claim to a place in the British Fauna. 



Ordo. Grallatores, 111. 



Fam. ScoLOPAciu^,, mihi. 



Genus. SCOLOPAX, Auct. 



SCOLOPAX SaBINI. 



S. castaneo atroque varia, subtus pallidior, pileo hmne -is ptero- 

 matibus remigibusque atris, rostro pedibusque fusco-atris. 

 Rostrum fusco-atrum, mandihdd superiore ad basin subcasta- 

 nea. Gala, gencc, j:ectusque fusco-atra?, castaneo-macu- 

 lata;. Abdomen i'usco-atrum castanco-fasciatura. Tectrices 

 inferiores, i-emigesque subtus fusca*. Dorsum scaprdares- 

 que intense atrae castaneo-fasciat.ie. Bectrices duodccim, 

 ad basin atrae, ad apicem ferruginea? atro-fasciata?. 

 Longitudo corporis, rostro incluso, ^^-q\ rostri ^y'y; ahc a 



carpo ad remigem secundam 5y^; tarsi \\. 

 In Muii. nos. 



This species is at once distinguished from every other Eu- 

 ropean species, of ;SVo/o/;oj', by tlie total absence of white from 

 its plumage, or any of those lighter tints of ferruginous-yellow, 

 which extend more or less in stripes along the head and back 

 of them all. In this respect it exhibits a strong re:-emblance 

 to the iS. saturata of Dr. Horsficld, from which however it suf- 

 ficiently (lifters in its general proportions: and I find no de- 

 bcriptiou of any otlier extra European .species oi ixucScolopax 



• From flic 'IVaii^actioiis of tlie I.innitaii Society, vol. xiv.— Coinnuuii- 

 catcd by the Zoological Club of the Linnwan Society. 



Vol. G.O. No. 3'^f). June IS'i.'j. 3 I which 



