405 



parts were a uniform cream-colour or buff; the 

 dark marks were distinct, especially those on the 

 head, but not nearly so dark as in the ordinary 

 plumage. Yarrell describes one, every feather of 

 which was of a pure delicate untinted white; the 

 bill and legs pale wood-brown. A curious variety is 

 also described in the 'Zoologist' for 1868, the 

 whole of the upper parts of the plumage suffused 

 with a pale ash-grey tinge, the bars and markings 

 being of a very pale rufous hue, and the broad trans- 

 verse bars on the crown of the head of a pale 

 brownish grey; the under surface of the plumage 

 white, the usual transverse bars being of the faintest 

 water- markings, indeed scarcely distinguishable ; 

 iris the same colour as ordinary ; bill and legs some- 

 what paler. 



" The eggs are of a pale yellowish white, the 

 larger end blotched and spotted with ash-grey and 

 two shades of reddish yellow-brown." * 



GREAT SNIPE, Scolopax major. The Great Snipe, 

 or, as it is perhaps more commonly called, the 

 " Solitary Snipe," is by no means a common species 

 in our county, but only occurs from time to time, 

 generally in the autumn : I have no doubt, however, 

 that the occurrences are more numerous than is 

 generally supposed, as probably, in the greater 

 number of instances in which this bird has been 



* Yarrell, vol. iii., p 13. 



