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SOME EARLY BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS 

 AND THEIR WORKS. 



BY 

 W. H. MULLENS, M.A., LL.M., M.B.O.U. 



III.— CHRISTOPHER MERRETT 



(1614—1695). 



(Coniimied from page 118.) 



Rusticola minor, the Snipe, or Suite, I. 62. tab. 27. Scolopax, 

 Gallinago minor Aid. tom. 3. 479. Gallinago sive Rusticola 

 minor, G. 448. est altera Hujus species nuncupata, the Jack 



Snipe. 



[" Snite " is the old form of Snipe. Gesner (p. 483) gives 

 " snyt " as an English name for the Sandpiper. " Jack 

 Snipe," cf. Willughby (p. 25).] 



Rusticola major, Scolopax. Gallinago, I. 88. tab. 31. the 

 Wood-cock, Aid. tom. 3. 473. Rusticola vel Perdix Rustica 

 major, G. 445. Utrseq ; Hyeme hue migrant, ex Hibernia. 



[Neither Turner nor Willughby mention the Woodcock 

 as frequenting Ireland. Merrett's statement that it migrates 

 hither from that country is derived from Giraldus Cambrensis' 

 account (Chapter X.), " There are immense flights of Snipe 

 {acetce) . . . both the larger species of the woods and the 

 smaller of the marshes."] 



Ralla-Anglor, the Rail, or King of the Quails, Aid. 3. 455. 



{Cf. Willughby (p. 23). Turner (p. 71) states, curiously 

 enough, that he had not seen or heard the Corn Crake 

 " anywhere in England, save in Northumberland alone."] 



Upupa, the Hoopee, I. 62. tab. 27. Aid. 2. 704. G. 703. In 



the New Forest in Hampshire, & in Essexia, sed raro invenitur. 



[The Hoopoe is still found occasionally in the New Forest. 

 Merrett describes it as rare, cf. Charleton (p. 92), who calls 

 it a Hoopoop, and states that it rarely visits this country, 

 and that a friend of his killed one near London " Hyeme 

 tamen Superiori." This bird, however, was not rare in 



