SABINE'S SNIPE. 41 



second instance of this bird having been met with in the 

 British Islands. On the 26th of October 1824, a female of 

 this species was shot on the banks of the Medway, near 

 Rochester, and is preserved in the valuable collection of Mr. 

 Dunning, of Maidstone. The specimen was kindly com- 

 municated to me by that gentleman, and was exhibited to 

 the Zoological Club on the 23rd of November 1824. It ac- 

 cords in every particular with the specimen first obtained, 

 with the exception of being somewhat smaller. This dif- 

 ference of size most probably indicates the difference of 

 sex." This example passed recently into the possession of 

 Mr. Gould. A third specimen was afterwards exhibited at 

 one of the evening meetings of the Zoological Society in 

 London, by Mr. W. Thompson of Belfast. ." This bird 

 was shot by Captain Bonham of the 10th Hussars, at the 

 end of November or beginning of December, 182-7, near 

 Garvagh, in the county of Londonderry, being the second 

 individual killed in Ireland. In a letter to a mutual friend, 

 Captain Bonham remarks of this bird, that it sprung from 

 the side of a high heathery hill, from which common snipes 

 were at the same time raised, but that it did not call as 

 they do. His want of success in obtaining it before the 

 third shot, afforded Captain Bonham an opportunity of re- 

 marking its disregard for his presence, which was manifest- 

 ed by its alighting quite near again, after being fired at, in 

 the manner of the Jack Snipe." 



Mr. Selby has since recorded a fourth example, which was 

 received by him from Morpeth, possessing all the character- 

 istics of Mr. Vigors's bird : the under parts were perhaps a 

 little darker, having fewer bars or undulations of the lighter 

 tint. 



In 1836, Mr. Eyton, in his Bare British Birds, says, he 

 was informed by the Earl of Malmesbury that a Snipe of 



