46 GAME-BIEDS OF INDIA 



6ALLINAG0 NEMORICOLA. 

 THE WOOD SNIPE. 



Scolopax gallinago, Hodg. Gleanings in Science, iii, p. 240 (1831) 



{Nc2mI). 



Gallinago nemoricola, Hodg. J. A^ S. B. vi, p. 490 (1837) ; Bltjth, Cat. 

 p. 272 ; Jerdon, B. of I. iii, p. 672 ; Hume d Davidson, S. F. vi, 

 p. 459; Hume, Cat. No. 868; Hume, S. F. viii, p. 112; Leggc, 

 B. of Cey. p. 814 : Hume £ Marsh., Game-B. iii, p. 325 ; Butler, 

 S. F. ix, p. 428 ; Eeid, ibid, x, p. 68 ; Ditmas, ibid. p. 173 ; Oates, 

 B. of B. ii, p. 385 ; Barnes, B. of Bom. p. 344 ; Davison, S. F. x, 

 p. 413; Hume, ibid, xi, p. 318; Oates, Hume's Nests and Eggs, iii, 

 p. 350 ; SJiarpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 657 ; Oates, Cat. Eggs of B. M. 

 ii, p. 64 ; Sharpe, Hand-L. i, p. 166 ; Blanford, Avifauna of B. I., 

 iv, p. 285 ; Oates, Game-B. i, p. 439 ; Finn, In. Waders, p. 141 ; 

 Stuart Baker, J. B. N. H. S. xx, p. 270 (1910) ; Bloech, ibid, xxiii, 

 p. 778 (1915) ; Wait Spolia Zeylanica, x, p. 236 (1916). 



Scolopax nemoricola, Jerd. III. Ind. Orn. pi. ix ; Ncvill, J. A. S. B. 

 (Ceylon), 1867-70, p. 138 ; Seebohm, CharadriidcB, p. 474. 



Description. Adult Male. — Forehead brown, changing to black on 

 the crown and nape ; a rufous median stripe ; supercilium and sides 

 of the head white, fulvous-white or pale fulvous, speckled with 

 brown and with broad brown bands running from the lores and 

 from under the ear-coverts to the nape. Chin white, generally 

 unspeckled, sometimes faintly dotted with brown. Upper back and 

 scapulars velvety-black, the former near the nape much marked 

 with rufous and the latter broadly edged with the same ; lower 

 back and rump duller black with rufous bars, more or less whitish 

 in front on the former ; upper tail-coverts barred rufous and blackish- 

 brown, the former colour predominating. Central tail feathers black 

 with two rufous bars and tips, the sub-terminal bars very broad ; 

 outer tail feathers barred dull white and black. Breast fulvous, or 

 fulvous-white barred brown ; remainder of lower parts, including the 

 abdomen, white barred closely with brown and with the under tail- 

 coverts generally strongly tinted with rufous. Axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts dark brown with narrow white bars. Wings brown, 



