128 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



species have the center of the abdomen immaculate white, nemoricola 

 has this part wholly barred with brown. 

 I have been unable to compare this skin with examples from -Nepal. 



SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA RUSTICOLA Linnaeus 



Eurasian Woodcock 



[Scolopax] Rusticola Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 146 

 (Europe; type locality restricted to Sweden, apud Hartert). 



Scolopax rusticola rusticola, Gyxdenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 762 ("Northern 

 Siam"). — Deignan, Journ. Siam. Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 172 (Chiang- 

 Mai) ; 1936, p. S3 (Chiang Mai).— Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 93 

 (Khun Tan). 



The woodcock is not common but is probably generally distributed 

 at suitable places in all our provinces during the cold weather. At 

 Chiang Mai I have recorded it only from January 1 (1931) to March 3 

 (1932). A specimen from Mae Rim was taken on February 3, 1937, 

 and another from Ban Dan (on the Nan River just south of our limits) 

 was collected on April 10, 1937. 



About Chiang Mai this species occurred yearly in small numbers at 

 a well-watered coppice near Wat Suan Dok, and I have also seen it 

 several times at marshy spots in the deciduous forest near the foot 

 of Doi Suthep. The bird from Ban Dan was shot from a boat and 

 was discovered in an extraordinary situation : resting in a dense clump 

 of an aquatic willowlike shrub growing in swirling water at some 

 distance from the river bank. The woodcock is chiefly active at night, 

 spending the day concealed on the ground in thick vegetation, so that 

 it will not often be observed. The stomach of one of my birds con- 

 tained only mud and gravel. 



A female had the irides dark brown; the bill with the basal half 

 dusky flesh, the apical half dark brown, and the extreme tip horny ; 

 the feet and toes plumbeous-fleshy ; the claws black. Another female 

 differed in having the bill yellow-brown, becoming almost black on 

 the apical third; the feet and toes brownish yellow; the claws dark 

 horny brown. 



The woodcock is a large and heavy wood-dwelling snipelike bird. 

 It has the upperparts beautifully marked everywhere with black, 

 rufous, and buff; the underparts buff, with narrow, wavy, blackish- 

 brown cross bars. 



Family RECURVIROSTRIDAE 



HIMANTOPUS HIMANTOPUS HIMANTOPUS (Linnaeus) 



Eurasian Black-winged Stilt 



[Charadrius] Himantopus Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 151 

 ("in Europa australiore"). 





