. GALLTNAGO. 239 



Crown of the head asby, or asliy grey ; the nape and back part of the 

 head with four transverse alternate bands of black and rusty red or 

 chestnut brown ; a dark streak from the gape to the eye ; the orbital 

 feathers pale buff; back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and upper tail- 

 coverts, marbled, spotted, barred, streaked and variegated with black, 

 white, grey, red, brown, rufous and yellow, that it is not possible to des- 

 cribe them with accuracy ; chin pale yellowish brown, or nearly white ; 

 throat and breast pale brown, barred transversely with dark brown ; 

 primaries blackish, with triangular spots of pale reddish brown on both 

 webs; secondaries and tertiaries blackish, but with the markings more 

 elongated and reaching to the shaft. The whole under parts are 

 yellowish white, numerously barred with ti^ansverse dark undulating 

 lines ; tail black, with spots and bars on both webs, the tips ashy 

 gi*ey above and silvery white below ; tibia feathered to the knee. The 

 female is larger, and only differs from the male in this respect and its 

 duller tints. 



Length. — 14 to 16 inches, wing 8 to 8'25, tail 3'25, bill at front 

 3 to 3 2 (upper mandible), tarsi 1'5 to 1*8, irides dark brown, legs 

 livid fleshy, as also is the bill with a tinge of grey. 



Hab. — Europe, Egypt, India, Java. In India it is a summer resident 

 on the wooded ranges of the Himalayas, and a winter visitant to 

 the Neilgherries and the higher ranges of Southern India, parts of the 

 Punjab, Nepaul, Sylhet and Bengal, frequenting damp situations, and 

 feeding on worms, snails, slugs, &c. In Sind it is extremely rare, and 

 is known only by a single specimen obtained at Kum-acheo. It is also 

 said to occur in North Canara and the Coucan, also in Persia, Beloochis- 

 tan and Afghanistan. 



Gen. Gallinago,— S'/^/'/z. 



Characters the same as in Scohpax. Tibia not feathered to the knee ; 

 tail of 16 — 18 feathers. 



Gallinago sthennra, Kuhl; Jerd. B. Ltd. iii. p. 674; Str. F. 

 vol. i. 42o, 496; ii. 294, 335; v. 212; Mnrraij, Hdh/c, Zool, ^^c, Bind, 

 p. 214. (1. Horsfieldi, Gr. III. hid. Z. pi. 54.— The Pin-tail Snipe. 



Crown dark brown or black, with a mesial longitudinal pale line ; 

 face white, divided by a dark line from the nostrils to the eye and 

 extending to the ear-coverts; there is also in some specimens a faint 

 line from the ear-coverts to in front of the neck on each side, but not 

 meeting ; chin and throat white ; neck in front and behind pale fawn 

 brown, barred, streaked or spotted with brown or dark brown ; sides of 

 the abdomen like the breast, and transversely barred; middle of abdomen 

 white, barred in some specimens ; upper back, scapulars and wing- 

 coverts brown, darker on the mantle and scapulars, the feathers of which 

 are broadly edged with yellow and .spotted and streaked with rusty ; 

 the scapulars, tertials and wing-coverts barred with the same ; lower 

 back, rump and upper tail-coverts rufescent brown, barred with 

 dusky ; under wing lining and axillaries white, distinctly and richly 

 barred with blackish brown ; tail basally dark brown followed by a 



