38 SCOLOPACIDJ:. 



patch of pale chestnut, bounded by a dusky brown band, 

 and tipped with paler chestnut. The chin, brownish 

 white ; cheeks pale brown, ear-coverts darker ; sides, and 

 front of the neck, pale brown, spotted with darker brown ; 

 breast, belly, and vent, white ; sides and flanks, greyish 

 white, barred with dusky black ; under tail-coverts pale 

 yellow brown, barred with greyish black ; legs and toes 

 greenish brown. 



A Snipe shot by myself in the first week in August, an 

 old bird in summer plumage, but with the autumn moult 

 just commencing, has the outer lateral margin of the inter- 

 scapular, and scapular feathers narrow, and almost white ; 

 all the parts of the plumage on the back and wing, which 

 are pale yellow brown in winter, are in this bird of a rich 

 reddish brown ; the first new inter-scapular feather on each 

 side has just appeared, with its usual broad, buff-coloured 

 margin, affording a striking contrast to the narrower white 

 margins of the feathers lower down on the body. 



The whole length of a Common Snipe is about ten inches 

 and a half; the length of the beak about two inches and 

 three-quarters ; from the carpal joint to the end of the first 

 quill-feather, which is the longest in the wing, five inches ; 

 the sexes are alike in plumage, but the female exceeds the 

 male in size. 



A young bird about two-thirds grown, with the beak 

 only one inch long, and with down still adhering about the 

 head, has the narrow, light-coloured margins, and the rich 

 red brown on the feathers of the upper surface of the body 

 and wings, as in the old bird in summer. 



