112 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



put it down for one of the shore waders, and never thought of it 

 as a Snipe ; so grey, in fact, that from this (as well as its size) 

 I expected it would prove to be a Knot (rather than a Dunlin). 

 It came, too, from a bit of bare muddy ground (the only 

 cover being a thin hedge), and when flushed, just flew straight 

 across to me almost ! This seems unlike a Snipe, unless it was 

 in a most exhausted condition. 



I now tried to get close above it on the bank, but unfor- 

 tunately it rose just then, and flew back straight over me, so 

 that I could not see the colour of its upper side at all, or, indeed, 

 get any clear view of its colour at all again, as it flew swiftly, 

 and though it flew round two or three times before again settling 

 it did not again come near enough to note this. 



It was only now, when flying round, that I saw that it had 

 too long a bill for anything but a Snipe. Its flight was certainly 

 Snipe-like, though, when rising, it did not twist about, nor did 

 it seem so very swift as the Snipe's usual flight is. It uttered 

 no note at all. As a rule, I think, Snipe seem, when flushed 

 once (let alone twice), to go right away; but this bird finally 

 went down on to the island in the backwater only some fifty or 

 sixty yards off. There was a frost that morning, but I think 

 westerly gales just before. Is it possible it could have been 

 Macrorhamphus griseus ? Though its tameness, &c, might be 

 accounted for in a Common Snipe (though there had been no 

 really hard weather at all), I find it difficult to think that this 

 bird, which looked like a Knot or something of that kind in 

 colour, could be a Common Snipe. This day I again saw a 

 Black-headed Gull over the river. 



29th. — A Green Sandpiper flew high over Marston. 



Within the last few months I have seen the following varieties 

 near here : — a Sparrow, which appeared to be nearly uniform 

 fawn-colour ; a Blackbird with head specked with white ; and a 

 Book with almost the entire wing-quills white, except, I think, 

 the tips. 



