Birds. 5593 



Occurrence of Rare Birds near Plymouth in 1856. — During the past year the 

 following rare birds have been obtained near Plymouth: — In October the great 

 snipe (Scolopax major) was captured by a labourer, at Slade, the residence of Captain 

 Pode ; during November four specimens of the black redstart were killed, and more 

 seen; in December the little auk, forktailed petrel and several common bitterns were 

 obtained. I have noted, for many years past, that the black redstarts appear on the 

 coasts of Devon and Cornwall invariably the first or second week in November, and 

 leave at the end of March or the beginning of April : these birds closely resemble the 

 wheatear in their actions, and, as it were, take the place of that species during the 

 winter months on the coasts, but of course they are not nearly so numerous. I once 

 took from the gullet of a black redstart a large specimen of Ligia oceanica, an animal 

 much resembling the common woodlouse, but larger, and which may be seen creeping 

 on the rocks near the sea. — John Gatcombe; Wyndham Place, Plymouth, March 28, 

 1857. 



Note on the Sabine's Snipe killed in Norfolk. — Having had the opportunity of 

 examining the Sabine's snipe mentioned by Mr. H. Stevenson (Zool. 5427), whilst in 

 the flesh, I venture to send you the following additional particulars, as many well- 

 founded doubts have of late subsisted, questioning the title this snipe holds to being a 

 distinct species from S. gallinago. I was especially careful to take the measurements, &c. 

 before the bird was skinned ; in doing st>, every facility was afforded me by Mr. Baker, 

 the naturalist, of this town: these measurements I give below in detail, in order that 

 any reader of the 'Zoologist,' who may be interested in the bird, may have an oppor- 

 tunity of comparing them with those of S. gallinago, and thereby see for himself the 

 close structural similarity that exists between the two ; not that any satisfactory con- 

 clusion could be arrived at by merely taking one of the common species, but by taking 

 a series, say of five or six, or even more, it will be found that there will be as much 

 variety between any two of the series as between the measurements of this bird and 

 any one of them. I have not been able to see more than one other specimen, and 

 therefore am unable to see, from the birds themselves, whether they are subject to any 

 variety, but, from a comparison of the coloured plates and descriptions given by 

 various authors, it would seem that such is the case. Mr. Vigors (Linn. Trans, xiv. 

 p. 556), in describing the original specimen, says that "this species is at once to be 

 distinguished from every other European species of Scolopax, by the total absence of 

 white from the plumage, or any of those lighter tints of ferruginous-yellow which 

 extend, more or less, in stripes along the head and back of them all : " to which I may 

 remark, that the tip of each feather of the back is of a much lighter colour than the 

 other transverse bars, which are chestnut; in every other respect the plumage agrees 

 with the description given by the late Mr. Yarrell (' British Birds,' iii. p. 23), the only 

 addition to which I can make is, that the under surface of the wing is of an uniform 

 dusky black, without spot or marking, and the colour of the leg is an olive-green, not 

 "very dark chestnut-brown," which probably was taken from a stuffed specimen. 

 Mr. Gould, in his ' Birds of Europe' (vol. iv. pi. 321), figures S. Sabini with traces of 

 the longitudinal marks which run from the beak under and above the eye; the upper 

 plumage of his drawing is not so distinct in its general character. The bird figured 

 in Jardine and Selby's 'Illustrations of Ornithology' (pi. 27) is lighter and browner 

 about the head and back of the neck; the tail also is of a light colour at the tip, 

 much resembling, in this respect, that of S. gallinago. That figured by Meyer 

 (pi. cxcii.) is lighter on the breast, and the markings of the lesser wing-coverts are not 

 XV. 2 K 



