3732 Birds. 



yet far from feeling satisfied, and can only hope that these observa- 

 tions may induce older and more experienced naturalists to turn their 

 attention to the subject. A matter of such difficulty cannot be settled 

 without a more thorough knowledge of it than we appear at present 

 to possess. The points of difference are far too many and too obvious 

 to permit a careless amalgamation of the species, while as yet they are 

 too few to decide hastily on their separation. Time and research 

 alone will enable us to form any correct opinion, and to them the 

 question must be left. 



In the 'Birds of Ireland' Mr. Thompson, though giving a long and 

 very interesting account of the habits of the snipe, does not appear to 

 have noticed these striking varieties, if indeed they may be so termed. 

 This is much to be regretted, as few naturalists have ever enjoyed 

 more abundant opportunities of acquiring knowledge on this head. 

 The author, in one paragraph, mentions a fact which, properly inves- 

 tigated, might have furnished us with much valuable information. In 

 the second volume of that work, at p. 271, we find this remark : — 

 " With reference to plumage, the following note was made. ' Novem- 

 ber 16, 1833. — On directing the attention of an ornithological friend 

 to-day to the very dark colour of two snipes received from Coleraine, 

 he remarked that most probably they were birds bred in more north- 

 ern couuties ; as he well recollected that all which were shot out of 

 the multitudinous numbers which appeared in the bog-meadows in 

 August, 1828, were peculiarly dark in plumage.' It would be singu- 

 lar if we could thus distinguish a foreign from a native-bred snipe." 



No one who has seen Scolopax Delamotti can read the foregoing 

 passage without the recurrence of this bird to his mind. If other spe- 

 cimens at all resemble the one before us in colour, the dark hue of its 

 plumage would distinguish it among a thousand. And again, the 

 more northern breeding-haunts alluded to suggest the inquiry, — Can 

 this be the usual habit of S. Delamotti ? But here Mr. Thompson's 

 observations end, and his readers are left unaided to form their own 

 conclusions. 



The present rainy autnmn promises a fertile field for prosecuting 

 inquiries on this subject. Snipes made their appearance in this 

 neighbourhood towards the end of July, and, although numbers have 

 already come under ray inspection, no variation in the tail-feathers 

 has yet occurred. 



I therefore send you the foregoing remarks, in the hope of exciting 

 others to investigate the matter. To any who may have already done 

 so, I would suggest that they kindly make known the result of their 



