very similar to those of the ordinary-sized Common Snipe, hut the plumage was altogether of a more ruddy 
east, and the light stripes on the scapularies were narrower and mueh less conspicuous. The bill and the 
tarsi especially appear very short when compared with the large size of the body. All sportsmen who have 
killed the bird remark that it rises without noise.” 
If these birds should ultimately prove to belong to a distinct species, I would propose for it the scientific 
appellation of Gallmago russata, and the trivial one of Russet Snipe, in allusion to its rufous colouring. 
To add my mite of recommendation of the Snipe as a bird for the table would be superfluous, since it is 
very generally agreed that it is second to none of our British birds in this respect. As an object of sport, 
no bird is more highly esteemed ; for where is the sportsman who would not walk a great distance for a 
chance shot at a Snipe ? 
I have mentioned above that the Snipe is a resident species ; by this I mean that it breeds with us. It 
will be necessary, however, to enumerate some of the places, and the character of the localities, which it 
frequents ; and this may he done in a few words. In every swampy situation covered with rushes and rank 
herbage, on Dartmoor, Exmoor, in the New Forest, the edges of Frencham and other ponds on the great 
commons near Farnham in Surrey, Bagshot Heath, and all suitable localities in Derbyshire and Wales, 
a hundred places in the north of England, and every part of Scotland and Ireland, if sufficiently quiet and 
undisturbed, this bird may he heard bleating in the month of March. In April the female engaged in 
incubating her four large eggs, may be found ; and by the end of the month the young are hatched. 
The figures of the young in the accompanying Plate were drawn from specimens sent to me alive by Sir 
John H. Crewe, from one of his estates in Derbyshire, and Avere forwarded with so much care that they 
reached London in safety ; by this means I was enabled to give a correct representation of them, which I 
could not otherwise have done, for these delicate little creatures begin to decompose fi'om the moment of 
their death. Besides the young, Sir John Crewe’s head keeper, Mr. W. Turner, sent me the parent birds 
also alive ; and the accompanying illustration may therefore be considered as complete as any I have yet 
published. I was very much puzzled by the peculiar grey colouring which pervaded the throat and sides of 
the face of these breeding birds. Thinking this might be due to some extraneous cause, such as a pecu- 
liarity in the soil or Avater of the neighbourhood Avhere the bird had been incubating, I AAu-ote to Mr. Turner 
on the subject. In reply he says, “ I observe that a marked difference in the colouring of the Snipe takes 
place soon after they begin to breed. The bright colours about the head and under the throat, Avith which it 
is decorated in winter, giA^e j)lace in summer to a dirty ash-colour. I do not think it is due to the birds 
feeding on peat land ; for Ave have many which breed where there is no peat, and I observe that all present 
the same appearance at this season of the year.” This is not in accordance Avith my OAvn obserA^ations, for I 
have not seen them thus coloured from any other locality. The young, as will be seen by my figures, are 
as rich in their colours as they are fantastical in their markings ; even in this doAA'ny and youthful state, the 
young Snipes spraAvl about among the herbage AAith considerable activity. It Avill also be seen that the nest 
is a very slight affair, composed of grasses, delicate shreds of rushes, &c., placed in a small tuft of grass in 
the middle of a swamp. 
A considerable controversy has been carried on respecting the manner in which the “bleating” of the 
Snipe is produced, some persons being of opinion that it is due to the resistance offered to the air by tlie 
stiff and curved outer feather of the tail Avhile the bird is rapidly descending ; but this has not been A^ery 
satisfactorily ascertained. On this part of the bird’s economy I extract the folloAving note from an 
interesting little volume by the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, entitled ‘British Birds’ Eggs and Nests.’ Speaking 
of the Snipe, this gentleman says : — “ It is a bird, moreover, Avhich is quite sure to make it very distinctly 
known that it has a nest and eggs somevAdiere near, if any human visitor appears on the scene. I refer 
to the very peculiar note or sound emitted by the male, always AAdiile he is on the Aving high in the air, 
and always accompanied with a very remarkable action of his wings and cuiwing descent in his flight. Tliis 
sound or note (for it is not absolutely certain, I think, how it is produced) is variously called humming, 
bleating, drumming, buzzing. To me, the first time I heard it, and before I kncAv to Avhat origin to assign 
it, the impression produced aa^us precisely that of a large bee, entangled in some particular place and 
unable to extricate itself; and I remember spending some minutes in trying to discover the supposed insect. 
The eggs are usually four, placed in a v ery slight and inartificial nest on the ground near some tuft of rushes 
or other Avater-herbage. They are of a greenish-olive hue, blotched and spotted Avith tAvo or three shades 
of brown, the deepest being very dark. The old ones are said to he A ery jealous and careful of their young.” 
The Plate represents a male, a female, four young birds, and a nest, all of the natural size. 
