GEALLATOEES. 187 



near Chichester ; one in the British Museum, from 

 Queen's County, Ireland ; and three Irish specimens 

 in the Dublin University Museum ; and I am in- 

 clined to believe that S. gallinago and S. Sabini are 

 distinct species, for the following reasons : Firstly, 

 in S. Sabini, there is a total absence of white in the 

 plumage, and none of the buff- coloured markings 

 on the head and back which appear in S. gallinago ; 

 secondly, the number of tail-feathers in S. Sabini is 

 twelve, whereas S. gallinago has fourteen ; thirdly, 

 the tarsus in S. Sabini is stouter and about an eighth 

 of an inch shorter than in S. gallinago ; fourthly, in 

 S. Sabini the eye is placed much higher in the head, 

 as in S. rusticola; and lastly, if S. Sabini were only 

 a variety of S. gallinago, however dark in colour the 

 feathers might be, they would at all events be of the 

 same shape. But it will be observed that in S. gal' 

 linago the feathers of the back are lanceolate in 

 form, while in S. Sabini they are more ovate ; in 

 this respect more nearly resembling S. rusticola. 



A specimen of Sabine's Snipe is recorded in 

 Morris's 'Game Birds and Wild Fowl' as having 

 been obtained near London. In the winter of 1860- 

 61, two friends were shooting along the Brent, when 

 a Snipe rose, at which they both fired, and the bird 

 fell. On picking it up, they remarked that it was an 

 extraordinarily dark-coloured Snipe, but as it was 

 much shattered it was not thought worth preserving. 

 Some of the feathers, however, were afterwards shown 



