SCOLOPAX SABINI. 



comparative length of the bill and legs, and by the number of the feathers 

 in the tail, which are twelve, while in S. gallinago they are fourteen, and 

 in S. major sixteen. With S. gallinula it agrees in this point ; but they 

 can never be confounded together. 



The lower part of the tibiae being naked, it becomes associated with the 

 true Snipes, distinguished on this account from the Woodcocks, which 

 have the tibiae feathered to the joint. From its rarity, its distribution as 

 a species may be considered as very confined. No specimen from any 

 other country has hitherto been met with or recognized, similar to these 

 two individuals. 



The total length is nine inches and three-tenths : the head, throat and 

 neck are brownish-black, speckled with obscure chesnut-brown, belly and 

 vent greyish-black, barred with chesnut-brown : the back and scapulars 

 are black, with chesnut-brown bars and spots : the under wing-coverts are 

 blackish-grey : the tail contains twelve feathers, the basal half of which 

 are black, the remaining part chesnut-brown, with black fasciae : the bill is 

 two inches and seven-tenths in length, blackish-brown, inclining to yellow- 

 ish-brown at the base : the legs and feet are blackish-brown, tinged with 

 grey : the length of the tarsus is one inch and a quarter. 



