680 BIRDS or INDIA. 



The Snipe-billed Godwit. 



Descr. — In winter plumage, ashy-brown above, with whitish 

 grey margins to the feathers ; crown and lores dusky, the feathers 

 but slis^htly margined paler, and divided apart by a whitish 

 supercilium ; throat, neck, and breast, having each feather somewhat 

 indistinctly pencilled with a zig-zag sub-terminal dusky marking 

 on a dull white ground, increasing to three or four dusky bars on 

 those of the flanks and on the lower tail-coverts ; belly and vent 

 white ; rump and upper tail-coverts white, banded with dusky- 

 black ; tail-feathers also banded with dusky-black, the dark bars 

 beino- broader than the white ground ; in the uropygials or middle 

 pair of tail-feathers, the white disappears on the inner web, and 

 is reduced to a series of spots on the outer ; the primaries and 

 their coverts, and the winglet, are dusky ; the shorter primaries, to 

 a partial extent, and the secondaries, and their coverts are edged 

 with white ; the first i>rimary a little exceeds the second in length, 

 and has the usual stout and white stem ; under surface of wing 

 chiefly white, except along its anterior borders. 



Bill dusky, carneous towards the base of the lower mandible ; 

 irides dark brown; legs plumbeous green. Length 13 inches; 

 extent 20; wing 6i ; tail 2^; bill at front 2| ; tarsus If; 

 middle toe 1^. 



This bird appears to be a rare winter visitant to the Coasts of 

 India. I procured one specimen in the Madras market; Mr. 

 Blyth some years subsequently got another at Calcutta, and there 

 is no other record of its occurrence in India. It has lately been 

 obtained in its breeding plumage in Northern Asia, and described 

 and figured in the Mag. de Zool. as new, by M. Verreaux. In this 

 state it is rufous, the wings brown, edged with white, and the tail 

 banded black and white. It was stated not to affect concealment, 

 and the male is said to have the neck dilated. It probably is, 

 like M. griseus, chiefly a sea-coast bird, and may be procured 

 hereafter more abundantly. 



M. griseus of Europe and America occurs in the latter country 

 in vast numbers, frequents the sand-banks and mud-banks, at 

 low water, and has a loud and shrill whistle. 



