632 



Adult Male (Schleswig, 1st May). Forehead and sides of the head buffy white dotted or marked with 

 blackish brown, centre of the crown and nape black with a central pale buff streak ; upper parts deep 

 blackish brown variegated with pale creamy buff and rufous, the feathers on the sides of the back 

 margined with creamy buff so as to make a broad stripe on each side of the back ; quills blackish 

 brown ; wing-coverts broadly tipped with dirty white, central tail-feathers blackish at the base, else- 

 where rufous variegated with black, the outer ones broadly tipped with white, the three outermost 

 having the terminal half pure white ; neck and throat warm buff marked with blackish brown, the chin 

 paler and unspotted ; rest of the underparts white tinged with buff on the breast and flanks, these 

 latter tolerably closely marked with almost semicircular blackish brown bars; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries white barred with black ; bill dull flesh-coloured at the base, the rest brown darkening into 

 black towards the tip; iris dark brown; legs dull flesh-colour, becoming dull lead-colour on the joints. 

 Total length about 1T5 inches, culmen 2 - 4, wing 5"5, tail 2'5, tarsus 1*4. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male in plumage and size, except that she is perhaps a trifle larger. 



Young (Skara, Sweden, 19th July). Differs from the old bird in having the upper parts more rufous, the 

 wings less marked with white, and the markings on the underparts less clearly defined. 



Nestling in half down (Zostowa, Archangel). Closely resembles the young of the common Snipe, but may be 

 distingiiished by having the underparts more clearly marked, by the outer tail-feathers, which are just 

 appearing, being white, and the first quill lacking the white external margin. 



The present species inhabits Northern, and more especially North-eastern, Europe during the 

 breeding-season, migrating southward at the approach of winter, at which season it is found in 

 South Africa. To the eastward it occurs in Asia as far as Siberia. 



It is found more especially in the east of Europe ; and in the west of Europe it is nowhere 

 common. With us in Great Britain it only occurs as a rare straggler during passage, and has 

 never been known to breed here. It has been obtained in most parts of England, but is, as a 

 rule, far more commonly met with on the east side of the island. Mr. Stevenson says (B. of 

 Norf. ii. p. 299) that in Norfolk it "is a regular autumnal visitant, though for the most part in 

 small numbers, and appears with the earliest flights of the common species in August and 

 September. From my own notes for the last twenty years, I find the 17th of August and the 

 14th of October the earliest and latest dates of its occurrence in Norfolk; and in no instance 

 have I heard of its being killed here during the winter months. Another peculiarity also of this 

 bird is the fact that it is scarcely ever known to visit us in spring, when the common Snipe again 

 makes its appearance, in considerable numbers, on its northward passage." Mr. Cordeaux says 

 that it is very rare in North Lincolnshire. One, he says, was shot in a potato-field near the 

 Ashby Decoy, in September 1868; and another was killed -on the river Hull in October 1863. 

 Mr. Robert Gray says that it has on several occasions been met with on the west side of Scotland. 

 One, he says, was shot near Ardrishaig in the autumn of 1864; it has been killed in Renfrew- 

 shire; and one was killed on the 15th September, 1868, in the parish of Stewarton, Ayrshire, by 

 Mr. W. Boyd, of Greenock. On the east coast it occurs more frequently than on the west side ; 

 and Mr. Gray cites instances of its occurrence in Roxburghshire, Forfarshire, and Fifeshire. 

 According to Mr. Wardlaw-Ramsay two were shot near St. Andrew. Mr. St. John states that it 

 breeds in Sutherland, which is doubtless an error ; and Mr. Sinclair records it from Caithness. 



