384 TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN". 



209. S. GALLINAGO, L. Enkel Becassin. The Common 



Snipe. D. F. 



Tail, with fourteen feathers, rusty yellow, with black 

 band and white tip ; the outer wing primary white on the 

 external fan ; breast and belly always white, unspotted ; 

 weight four ounces; length about 12 in.; beak 3 in.; 

 tarsus If in. ; male rather smaller, has not nearly so 

 many white spots as the last, and having no white bars 

 on the wings, the whole body colour above has a darker 

 appearance. 



Common during the summer, and breeds over all Scan- 

 dinavia. 



210. S. GALLINULA, L. Half Enkel Becassin. The Jack 



Snipe. D. F. 



Tail sharp, twelve feathers ; side feathers dark grey, 

 spotted ; a long broad black band on the crown of the 

 head. Length, 8-^ in. ; beak If in. ; tail extends nearly 

 1 in. beyond the closed wings ; tarsus under 1 in. ; 

 colour as in the last, but the breast is pale grey with 

 brown spots, and the back and scapulars are black, 

 glossed with green and purple. 



I could never find the jack snipe breeding either in the 

 south or middle of Sweden, but as I have shot the young 

 birds, apparently only just flyers, in South Wermland, in 

 August, I am pretty certain they were bred in the vicinity. 

 It is apparently the latest breeder of all, for the eggs I 

 have received from Lapland have been taken in the end 

 of July ; eggs very like those of the common snipe, but a 

 little rounder and considerably smaller. 



Fam. 4. MACBODACTXLI. 



Beak short, compressed, and high ; legs longish ; toes 

 very small and long ; hind toe resting with about half its 

 length on the ground; tail short, twelve feathers; body 

 slender and compressed. The sexes are alike, but the male 

 is the largest ; are all summer migrants to the north. 



