2 



7 



1 



3 



1 



4 



5 



3 



274 SCOLOPACIDiE. 



the generality of snipes, and at first, in consequence of its dark 

 colour, I took it for a water-rail. Being rather too anxious, I 

 fired three times before killing it : after each of the first two shots 

 it pitched quite near again like the jack-snipe." * About March 

 the 13th, 1838 (as communicated by me to the fifth volume of 

 the ' Annals of Natural History ') one of these rare birds was "shot 

 near Kinnegad, Westmeath, where it had been seen for three years, 

 and occasionally fired at. The specimen was sent to Dublin, 

 where in the ensuing month of May I saw it in the possession of 

 Mr. Glennon, the well-known bird-preserver. Its measurements 

 were, 



Inch. Line. 



Length (total) 113 



of bill above 



tarsus 



middle toe and nail 



wing from carpus 



In plumage it was quite similar to the individuals hitherto 

 described. Mr. W. S. Wall, a Dublin bird-preserver, who saw 

 this specimen, assured me that about nine years previously (then" 

 1838), a similar bird shot in this country was, on account of its 

 remarkable appearance, sent to him (in a fresh state) by the Rev. 

 Sir Harcourt Lees, Bart., under the name of "black snipe." 

 When " set up," it was presented by that baronet to the museum 

 of the Royal Dublin Society, but within a few years was attacked 

 by moths and destroyed. Witti reference to the species of the 

 bird in question, I have full reliance on the accuracy of my infor- 

 mant. 



The occurrence of a fifth specimen was made known to me by 

 Thomas W. Warren, Esq., of Dublin, who on the 1st of February, 

 1844, mentioned his having that day seen (at Mr. Glennon's) a 

 female bird which was recently shot (by Aquilla Dancer, Esq.) 



* I took advantage of the bird being in London to exhibit it at a meeting of the 

 Zoological Society, and read the above letter, which was printed in the ' Proceedings' 

 for 1835 (p. 82). Mr. Yarrell having previously seen this S. Sabini when in the 

 bird-preserver's hands, noticed it merely as " a third specimen " (it was the second 

 Irish one) in the 'Magazine of Natural History' for 1830 (vol. iii. p. 29). 



