DESCRIPTION, DISTRIBUTION, HABITS 



bordered by black. The wing coverts are bronze-yellow, 

 having incomplete black-edged spots of pale yellow. The 

 scapulars and minor secondaries are ashy, mottled with transverse 

 spots of bronze-green, and bordered by a white longitudinal 

 line of bufF-yellow. Inner primaries and secondaries barred 

 and spotted with black and white. The rump, upper tail 

 coverts, and tail ashy, finely barred with black and spotted 

 with buff. There is a white circle with a dark band below 

 round the eye and back over the ear coverts. The chin is 

 whitish, becoming ashy-brown on the sides of the face and 

 neck. Rest of the lower surface white except for a mottled 

 black patch on either side of the lower breast. Iris dark brown. 

 Bill purplish-brown. Legs and feet dull slaty-blue. 



Lengthy 9-75 5 wing, 4.8 ; tail, 1.4. 



The female differs from the male, being on the whole more 

 richly coloured and larger in size. 



Distribution. — The painted snipe occurs over a pretty wide 

 range, being found in India, China, and Japan. In South 

 Africa it is widely distributed, although nowhere very 

 abundant. 



Habits. — The painted snipe, unlike the solitary snipe, is a 

 resident. It is an extremely shy and skulking bird, and is 

 usually found hiding among the reeds and thick vegetation 

 bordering tidal rivers, swamps, and vleis. It is only seen towards 

 dusk, when it comes out on to the mud flats in search of insects. 

 It is not a very strong flyer, its flights being somewhat heavy, 

 and usually of short duration. With the painted snipe the 

 relation of the sexes is to a large extent reversed. The female 

 bird is larger and more brightly plumaged than the male ; 

 also it is supposed that the male takes charge of the incubation 

 of the eggs. This snipe builds no nest, but lays its eggs, which 

 vary from 3 to 4 in number, on the bare ground, or preferably 

 among stones and gravel, always near water. The eggs are 

 yellowish olive-buff in colour with dark, clear, defined spots 

 and blotches of dark brown. They measure on the average 

 1.4 by i.o, and are laid about January. 



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