NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



Crustacea, and insects. It is a wary and suspicious bird, and 

 extremely difficult to approach. 



Solitary Snipe, or Double Snipe Gallinago major). 

 (Vol. II., p. 292.) 



Description. — Male : above, mottled black and sandy-buff. 

 The crown is black, with a median and two side streaks above 

 the eye of buff. The wing coverts are tipped with white. 

 The primary coverts, bastard wing, and wing quills black, the 

 first two having white tips. Sixteen tail feathers, the centre 

 ones being rufous, tipped with black and then white, the outer 

 ones becoming whiter. Below the chin and centre of the 

 abdomen are white. The sides of the face and neck, the fore- 

 neck, and breast are sandy-buff streaked with brown. Flanks 

 and under tail coverts sandy-buff barred with brown. Axillaries 

 and under wing coverts barred alternate black and white. Iris 

 umber (dark). Bill pale yellow, dusky at the tip. Tarsus and 

 feet light greenish-yellow. 



Lengthy ii.O ; wing, 5.3 ; tail, 2.0. 



The breeding plumage is brighter than the winter plumage. 



Distribution. — This snipe nests in the northern hemisphere 

 during the summer and then migrates south during the northern 

 winter. In South Africa it is fairly evenly distributed, although 

 nowhere abundant. 



Habits. — The solitary snipe is invariably found singly, 

 although sometimes in pairs. It is usually seen on marshy 

 ground or the mud banks of tidal rivers hunting for its food, 

 which consists chiefly of soft-bodied insects. This snipe is a 

 migrant, arriving about September, and only spending the 

 summer in South Africa. It is often confused with the 

 Ethiopian snipe, which is resident. 



Painted Snipe {Rostratula capensis). (Vol. II., p. 292.) 



Description. — Crown and mantle dark ash-grey, vermiculated 

 with dark grey. There is a median line of buff along the crown, 



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