994 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX, 



four eggs. The nest is made of small smooth flat stones and is situated on 

 the stony track at the side of the river. These photographs were taken at 

 Gyantse (l"i,100 ft.) on the 21st May this year. I also obtained a nest in the 

 Chumbi valley on the 13th May at an altitude of about 11,000 ft. 



Gyantse, Tibet, June 1909. F. M. BAILEY. 



[The printers in reproducing the above photographs have lightened the background 

 behind the bird sitting on the nest, thus making the bird more conspicuous. In the ori<:inal 

 negaiive it was only with the greatest difficulty that the bird Cduld be discovered, so 

 wondeifully did it and its nest amalgamate with its surroundings.— Eds.] 



No. XXI.— THE SNIPE-BILLED GODWIT. 



In " The Ibis " for July 1909 Mr. H. E. Dresser records the occurrence of 

 the Pseudoscohpax tacyanowsh'd (Macrorhamphus semipalmutus, The Snipe-billed 

 Godwit of the " Fauna of British India ") in Western Siberia. Two birds, a 

 male and female, were shot on 25th May 1908 " not far from Sara in the valley 

 of the Irtysh, Tobolsk Government." The birds came into the hands of a 

 correspondent of Mr. S. A. Buturlin, who skinned them and in the oviduct of 

 the female found a fully coloured egg ready for laying. The bird was first 

 described by Blyth in 1848 from a specimen obtained in the Calcutta Market. 



No. XXII.— SECOND OCCURRENCE OF THE SNIPE-BILLED 



GODWIT IN ASSAM. 



It is a good many years since I first recorded the occurrence of Macrorkam- 

 phus semipalmatus in Assam but, until a few days ago when a small flock of 

 four were seen in Shillong, there has been no further record. This flock 

 appears to have been seen by two or three sportsmen in Shillong and finally 

 Major Wilson of the 8th Goorkhas, hearing about them, went in pursuit and 

 coming across a pair shot one, fragments of which he was good enough to 

 send on to me. These and Major Wilson's description suflBced to enable me 

 to identify the bird sls Maerorha7nphus> semipalmatus, the Snipe-billed < odwit. 

 Within Indian limits this Godwit appears only as a rare straggler, as a rule 

 in pairs or very small flocks but often singly. It may however be more or 

 less frequently overlooked though its conspicuously long bill combined with 

 its otherwise godwit like appearance would attract the attention of most 

 sportsmen interested in Field Ornithology. 



Very little is known about the habits of this rare wader and its nidification 

 is also practically unknown though I possess a reputed pair of eggs taken by a 

 Japanese collector in Manchuria. Major Wilson describes its note as very 

 similar to that of the common Godwits. 



E. C. STUART BAKER. 



Shillong, 24/7* October 1909. 



