The Snipes. 493 



by large buff spots and patches, which are 

 bordered above by a black bar. The 

 primaries are bluish grey, marbled with 

 black and white on the inner web, and 

 marked with black blotches and round 

 buff spots on the outer web. The outer 

 secondaries are similar, but the black on 

 the outer webs is confined to the base 

 of the quills. The inner secondaries are 

 olive-brown, much marked with black. 

 The sides of the head and the throat are 

 white streaked with brown ; the chin 

 nearly entirely white. The foreneck is 

 brown, mottled with white and bounded 

 below by a black gorget. The lower 

 surface, from the gorget to the tail, is 

 pure white. The sides of the breast are 

 olive-brown, marked with black and white, 

 and separated from the black gorget by 

 a white band. The axillaries are white, 

 the tips of the longer ones barred with 

 ashy. The under wing-coverts are bluish 

 grey, barred with black ; the central 

 feathers plain white. 



The adult female differs from the male 

 in the following respects : The circle 

 round the eye and the band over the ear- 

 coverts are white. The upper wing-coverts 

 and the long inner secondaries, in fact 

 the whole aspect of the closed wing, is 



