240 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
form a pale streak down each side of the back. The tertiaries 
and wing coverts are marked with buff bars and buff black- 
bordered spots ; wing quills bluish-gray barred and blotched 
with black and spotted with oval buff markings; rump, 
upper tail coverts, and tail blue-gray barred with black, and 
with buff spots on the coverts and tail. The chin is whitish ; 
sides of neck, foreneck, and upper breast streaky brown and 
white ; remainder of lower parts white, with a white band 
running from the breast up each shoulder ; the sides of the 
breast bordering this white band are deep brown. 
Female: The lores and cheeks are rufous, passing into 
chestnut on the throat and round the neck. There is a broad 
black pectoral gorget. The wing coverts lack the buff spots, 
and beneath the scapulars is a tuft of pure white lanceolate 
feathers. Young birds resemble adult males. 
Bill dusky green, reddish at the tip ; iris olive-brown ; legs 
olive-brown. 
Distribution.—Resident throughout the Island, but moves 
about a good deal, being commonest in the west during the 
north-east monsoon. Found all over India south of the 
Himalayas and in Burma ; ranges almost throughout Africa, 
Madagascar, and Southern Asia. 
Habits.—In its ways this species resembles the Rails more 
than the other Snipes. It skulks about in damp ground, 
where the grass and rushes:are thick, or hides in damp corners 
of paddy fields. It is heavy on the wing, and generally 
difficult to flush. As arule, not more than a pair are met with 
together. It breeds in its haunts from November to May, 
but mostly in March. The nest is a slight depression in moist 
ground, lined with grass or rushes. The four eggs are stone- 
yellow boldly blotched with black, and measure about 1°35 
by °98. 
Order GAVIA. 
Gulls, Terns, and Skuas. 
The Gaviz constitute an order which is closely related to the 
preceding Limicole. It has been shown that in all probability 
the Gulls and their allies sprang from the common ancestors 
of the Plovers and Snipes, and are in fact aberrant Plovers, to 
