BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 391 
their winter-quarters, their numbers being swelled by im- 
migrants from the Continent, whose return movement takes 
place in February or March. During protracted frost this 
species becomes considerably tamed as its feeding-places 
are frozen over, and it may at such times be flushed on the 
saltings near the coast. I have no information of any big 
bags of Snipe having been obtained locally in one day ; 
from eight to ten couple would be considered a good 
day's sport. A Snipe shot at Capenoch on August 10th, 
1905, had only one leg, having lost the other probably in a 
trap. Though the trapping and snaring of this species 
was in general practice a century and a half ago, I was some- 
what surprised, when in western Ireland in 1903, to see 
" Snipe-traps " exposed as such for sale in an ironmonger's 
shop at Ballina. They were like the common "figure 
of four " rabbit-trap, but on a smaller scale. 
The sexes of this species cannot be differentiated by their 
plumage. A specimen with white secondaries and scapulars, 
and a sprinkling of white feathers on the body was shot at a 
loch near Clonrae (Tynron) on November 7th, 1906. The 
so-called " Sabine's Snipe " is now generally admitted to be 
merely a dark variety, and a very dark bird was shot at the 
above-mentioned loch on September 20th, 1902. Howard 
Saunders writes : " The numerous variations in the plumage 
of the Snipe have led to the creation of several bad species."* 
In this category must be included the specimen of Gallinago 
hrehmi as recorded in the Catalogue of the Birds contained in 
the collection of Sir William Jardine. Of this bird Sir William 
writes : " Two specimens of Gallinago hrehmi have been shot 
at Jardine Hall on 9th and 10th October [1849] being 
the first time that this species has been noticed as visiting 
our Islands ... on comparing the tail with that of the common 
Snipe it will be seen that the outline of the latter is rounded, 
while in G. hrehmi the outer feathers exceed the length of 
the second."t Elsewhere, Sir William writes concerning 
* Man. Brit. Birds, 1899, p. 574. 
t Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 1849, Vol. IV., p. 282. 
