24 SCOLOPACIDJS. 



sex. The females larger than the males. The Eev. 

 Richard Lubbock mentions having met with one that 

 weighed ten ounces. 



The males are lighter in colour above and below the 

 dark stripe behind the base of the beak, like the Wood- 

 cock ; and the breast is less covered with the dark half- 

 circular markings : the white spots at the ends of the 

 wing-coverts are rather larger, and more conspicuous from 

 their purer white colour. Young birds in their first 

 autumn have short beaks, and fewer, if any, white outside 

 tail-feathers ; these are probably obtained at their first 

 moult, as this species is sometimes described as being 

 without any white outer tail-feathers, and at others with 

 as many as five on each outside. 



The vignette below represents the young of the Common 

 Snipe. 



