156 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



the following broad rules to heart for their guidance : 

 (i) The true snipes do not inhabit the bare sand and 

 mudflats of the sea-shore in the same way as dunlin, 

 knot, and the like, but they habitually resort to inland 

 fields and to the fens, bogs and marshes ; whilst (2) the 

 sandpipers named, as also other long-billed shore birds, 

 are usually met with in sight of salt water. 



I am aware that some people believe that a fourth 

 species of true snipe is occasionally met with in Great 

 Britain. This is the extremely dark, almost black 

 snipe, known generally as Sabine's Snipe, which appar- 

 ently was first noticed by the Rev. Charles Doyne, at 

 Portarlington, in Queen's Co., Ireland, some eighty or 

 more years ago. This singular bird is described by 

 Yarrell as having the upper part of the head, the back 

 of the neck, back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and tertials 

 dusky-brown, each feather varied by narrow transverse 

 bands of pale yellow-brown, which are less numerous 

 on the back than over the wings. The primary quill 

 feathers are dull black, with black shafts, the upper 

 tail-coverts greyish-brown. The tail feathers have their 

 basal half black, and their terminal half chestnut-brown, 

 spotted and barred with black, the two centre feathers 

 having rather more, and the outer feathers rather less 

 of black than the others. The coloration of the plum- 

 age on the chin, neck, breast, and all the under parts of 

 the body of Sabine's Snipe is a mixture of dull brown 

 and pale yellow-brown, in alternate bars over the whole 

 surface. The legs and toes are very dark chestnut- 

 brown, while the beak is as in the normal bird. The 

 measurements of Sabine's Snipe do not appreciably 

 differ from those of the Common Snipe. A snipe of 

 such unusual appearance naturally excited the attention 



