THE TRUE SNIPES. 215 



often of good size, and very distinct. Axis, 17-1 '9 inch 

 diam., i '2-1-3. 



II. THE COMMON SNIPE. GALLINAGO GALLINAGO. 



Scolopax gallinagO) Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 244 (1766); Macgill. 



Brit. B. iv. p. 368 (1852); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. 



p. 241 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xxxi. (1895). 

 Gallinago c&lestis, Frenz. ; Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 641, pis. 542, 



543, fig. i (1880); B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 166(1883); 



Saunders, ed. Yarrell's Brit. B. iii. p. 342 (1883) ; id. Man. 



Brit. B. p. 557 (1889). 



Adult Male. General colour above black, with a broad line of 

 sandy-buff along each side of the back, formed by the broad 

 edges to the scapulars, which are blotched with black ; the lower 

 back dusky-blackish ; rump and upper tail-coverts tawny-rufous, 

 barred across with dusky-blackish, the long tail-coverts white at 

 the ends ; wing-coverts blackish-brown, the marginal ones uni- 

 form, the median and greater series spotted with ashy-white at 

 the tips ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts blackish, with small 

 white tips ; quills blackish, the first primary whitish along the 

 outer web, the secondaries conspicuously tipped with white, the 

 inner secondaries barred with black, and resembling the scapu- 

 lars ; tail-feathers tawny-rufous, black at the base, and tipped 

 with white, before which is a wavy sub-terminal bar of dusky- 

 blackish, the outer feather regularly barred with blackish; crown 

 of head sandy-isabelline along the centre, with a broad black 

 band on each side, followed by an eyebrow of sandy-colour, 

 whiter above the lores, across which, to the eye, is a broad black 

 streak; sides of face white, with a blackish streak across the ear- 

 coverts, which are narrowly streaked with dusky ; cheeks and 

 chin white ; the throat and chest sandy-brown, mottled with 

 blackish spots and bars; breast and abdomen pure white; sides 

 of body conspicuously barred with dusky-blackish ; under tail- 

 coverts more rufescent and barred with blackish ; under wing- 

 coverts white, barred with dusky-blackish ; axillaries regularly 

 barred with black and white ; lower primary-coverts and quill- 

 lining ashy-grey. Total length, 10 inches ; oilmen, 2'8; wing, 

 5-2 ; tail, 2*3 ; tarsus, i'2. 



