332 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



Lubbock, however, mentions having seen on one occa- 

 sion a gigantic snipe, which was then in the hands of 

 a Norwich birdstuffer, and which weighed "very 

 nearly eight ounces, although it was not unusually 

 fat." As compared with the solitary he says " it 

 was plainly a longer and a larger framed bird," but 

 in all respects, except in size, " it was a veritable 

 Scolopax gallinago." Curiously enough this bird 

 was also shot near Horning Ferry. Mr. Gould, who 

 has seen my specimen, considers that it may be the 

 fully adult of his Gallinago russata, or " russet snipe/'" 5 *" 

 a name which he proposes in his "Birds of Great 

 Britain " for this large race of snipes (of which 

 examples have been killed in other parts of the United 

 Kingdom),f should it hereafter be considered worthy 



* A specimen of this snipe, presented to the Norwich Museum 

 by Mr. Eobert Birkbeck (" British Series," No. 234b), and said to 

 have been killed in the West of England, measures three inches 

 and one-eighth along the upper mandible, but shows much less 

 white on the under parts, and is altogether more russet in tint than 

 mine, and is apparently a less mature bird. 



f In the "Zoologist" for 1855 (p. 4704) Mr. E. H. Eodd, of 

 Penzance, describes a "supposed new snipe," of which he had 

 occasionally met with examples since the year 1834. His descrip- 

 tion agrees very nearly with my bird, although I could scarcely 

 term the dorsal stripes narrower and " more obscure" than is usual 

 in the common snipe ; the very dark tints of the back, the rich 

 rufous of the neck and shoulders, and the more " striated" flanks, 

 are all marked features in the Norfolk bird ; and he also refers to 

 the general richness of colouring in these snipes, even when 

 killed in mid-winter. Mr. Gatcombe, of Plymouth, having ex- 

 amined two snipes similar to those described by Mr. B,odd, remarks, 

 in the " Zoologist " for 1862 (p. 7938), upon their peculiar features, 

 but states that " the bill and tarsi especially appear very short when 

 compared with the large size of the body," which in my specimen 

 is certainly not the case. He adds, however, that "all sports- 

 men, who have killed the bird remark that it rises without noise." 

 (See also the " Zoologist " for 1866, pp. 97 and 302 ; and the "Field," 

 of November 28th, 1868). 



