GALLINAGO. 



125 



pale horny, with a dusky tip for about one-third its terminal length. In the 

 females the bills average from 2*45 to 27. 



E"a^.— Nearly throughout India and Ceylon ; rare in the Punjab, N.-W 

 Provinces and Sind, also in Rajputana, Kutch and Kattiawar; fairly common 

 in N. Guzerat, Central India and Khandeish. In Bombay, Concan generally, 

 and theDeccan, as well in the Nizam's Provinces, it is plentiful, also in Lower 

 Bengal, east and west of the Brahmapootra. It is recorded from Arracan, Pegu, 

 Tenasserim, the Andamans and Nicobars, where it is most commonly met 

 with. This snipe is a migrant ; arrives in Sind about the middle of August, 

 and leaves about the end of March or middle of April. Rice fields, mud 

 swamps, and the vicinity of large rivers, jheels and tanks, where there are 

 sedges and rushes, are the selected spots of the Pin-tail, at least in Sind. 



154. GallinagO SCOlopacina, Bonap., Comp. list, B. Eur. mid N. 

 Amer. p. 52; Jerd., B. hid. iii. p. 674, No. 871 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs 

 Ind. B. p. 586; Eume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 459 S ^^gg^' ^- Ceylon, p. 820 ; 

 Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 24O; Murray, Avif. Brit. Ind. ii. p. 606, No. 

 1285, pi. Scolopax gallinago, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 244. Scolopax coslestis, 

 FrenzL, Beschr. der Vogel und ihrer Eier in der Gegeftd Von Wittetiberg 

 p. 58. Gallinago galUnaria(Gw.), Cripps, Str. F. vii. p. 302 ; Hume, Str. 

 F. viii. p. 112; Bingham, Str. F.m\\. \). 1 12. Gallinago ccelestis, Dresser, 

 B. Eur. vii. p. 641, pi.; Bume and Marsh., Game Birds iii. p. 359 J Oates^ 

 B. Br. Burmah, p. 381.— The Common Snipe. 



Crown of the head black, with a mesial longitudinal white, yellowish, 

 or rusty white line ; a superciliary on each side from the base of the 

 upper mandible of the same colour, and a dark streak below it to the 

 eye; sides of the head spotted with dusky grey, tinged ferruginous brown ; 

 chin and throat white, or nearly white; neck on the sides and in front 

 yellowish white, spotted with brown ; breast white, brown, pale yellowish or 

 ferruginous on the upper part, and spotted with dusky ; the sides greyish 

 white, barred with dark brown ; back and scapulars vclvetty black, the feathers 



