678 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



beneath, this is bordered on the sides (as in the male) by a 

 pure white line passing up to the scapular region ; lower part 

 white, a dark band on the flanks bordering the white ascending 

 line posteriorly. 



Bill reddish brown ; irides deep bruwn; legs greenish. Length 

 of the female 9^ inches ; wing 5f ; tail nearly 2 ; bill at front 1 1 ; 

 tarsus 1| ; mid-toe If. The male is a little smaller; length 9 ; 

 wing 5;^. 



The African species is generally considered distinct, and is stated 

 to differ in its narrower quills and some slight variations in the color- 

 ing of the wings, tail, &c. ; I can see no such difference however in 

 a Cape specimen in the Museum of the Asiatic Society, and I note 

 that Gurney in a late paper in the * Ibis, ' pronounces them to be 

 identical. R. australis, Gould, from Australia, is also very closely 

 allied, but the female (only) possesses a peculiar conformation of 

 the trachea, which is wanting in the Indian bird, this organ passing 

 down between the skin and the muscles for the whole length of 

 the body, and making four distinct convolutions before entering 

 the lungs. It has shorter toes also than the Indian species. A 

 species from South America, R. semicollaris, V. is very distinct. 



The Painted Snipe is a permanent resident in some parts 

 of India, breeding in June and July in thick marshy ground, and 

 laying four eggs which are greenish with large brown blotches and 

 very large for the size of the bird. It wanders about a good deal 

 according to the season, and many will be found in paddy fields, in 

 the south of India, in October and November, leading the observer 

 to conclude that they are as migratory as the true Snipe. I have 

 found them breeding in Malabar, the Deccan, and Bengal; after 

 the young are fully grown, they disperse over the country. 



The Painted Snipe flies heavily and but a short distance, and is 

 difficult to flush a second time in thick grass. The flesh is very 

 inferior to that of the Snipe; and, indeed, is pronounced 'nasty' 

 by some late writer. Blyth remarks that when surprised, it has the 

 habit of spreading out its wings and tail, and so forming a sort of 

 radiated disk which sho^ys off its spotted markings, menacing the 

 while with a hissing sound and contracted neck, and then suddenly 

 darting off. The young and the eggs are figured in Jardine's 



