188 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
136. SNIPE, Gallinago media, Leach; “Kennes.” 
Very few Snipes were seen by us between Cairo and 
Damietta. Between the 13th January and the 20th we 
only shot 44 couple. It was not until we came to El-Badalki 
on January 20th that we found them in great numbers, on 
the east bank, about four miles south of Damietta. I sup- 
pose it is the place alluded to by Captain Shelley at p. 25 
(0. c.). We shot over twenty couple that afternoon. After- 
wards we were shown several marshes on the edge of Lake 
Menzaleh, and within easy donkey ride of Damietta, where 
very good bags might be easily made. They were inferior 
eating to English Snipes. 
We did not expect to find any in our voyage up the Nile. 
Indeed there are no marshes suitable for them, but ten or 
twelve were shot, chiefly single specimens, on the sandbanks 
and backwaters. Iam rather surprised that we met with 
somany. The last was on the 21st of April, and I think 
I remember flushing another or two about the Ist of May. 
I suppose however that there must be some place near 
Cairo where they are plentiful, as I heard of one gun getting 
forty couple on the 11th of January in that neighbourhood. 
The majority had the outer tail feathers slightly elongated, 
though not quite so much as one I got at Moscow on the 
2oth of September, 1869 (vide ante). This variety has re- 
ceived the name of S. drehimz. 
137. JACK SNIPE, Galhinago. gallinula (Linn.) 
Very plentiful in the marshes at Damietta; its numbers 
in proportion to the Common Snipe being slightly more 
than would be the case in England; for instance, a third of 
the bag would probably be Jacks. We did not see many 
anywhere else, and none above Cairo that I remember, 
