144 Zoological Society. 



The other two Snipes of Nipal are unquestionably distinct from 

 those of Europe. They are described as the solitary Snipe, Gail, so- 

 litaria, Hodgs., and the wood Snipe, Gall, nemoricola, Ej. 



In the solitary Snipe the wings are remarkably long ; the upper 

 surface, especially on the wings, is minutely dotted, barred, and 

 streaked, with white intermingled with buff and brown ; and the ab- 

 domen is white, barred along the flanks with brown. 



The wood Snipe has the general colouring of the plumage dark 

 and sombre ; the wings short ; the abdomen and the whole of the 

 under surface thickly barred with transverse lines of dark brown on 

 a dusky white ground ; and a tail of sixteen or eighteen, or very 

 rarely twenty, feathers. 



Mr. Hodgson describes, with the greatest minuteness, each of 

 these birds, and adverts with the fullest detail to their several habits 

 and distinguishing peculiarities, as well of manners and of seasons 

 as of form and plumage. 



Feb. 9. — A letter was read, addressed to the Secretary by M. 

 Thibaut, and dated Malta, January 8, 183G. It communicated various 

 particulars relative to the Giraffes belonging to the Society, which 

 have recently been obtained by the writer and which are now in his 

 custody, and may be translated as follows : — 



" Having learnt, on my arrival at Malta, that you were desirous 

 of information on the subject of the four Giraffes which the Society 

 has entrusted to my care, I regard it as a duty to transmit to you a 

 short statement, by which you will become aware of the difiiculties 

 that I encountered in obtaining and preserving for the Society 

 these interesting animals, which are now, I hope, altogether out of 

 danger. 



" Instructed by Colonel Campbell, His Majesty's Consul General 

 in the Levant, and desirous of rendering available for the purposes 

 of the Zoological Society the knowledge which I had acquired by 

 twelve years' experience in travelling in the interior of Africa, I 

 quitted Cairo on the 15th of April, 1834. After sailing up the 

 Nile as far as Wadi Haifa (the second cataract), I took camels, and 

 proceeded to Debbat, a province of Dongolah; whence, on the 14th 

 of July, I started for the desert of Kordofan. 



" Being perfectly acquainted with the locality, and on friendly 

 terms with the Arabs of the country, I attached them to me stiU 

 more by the desire of profit. All were desirous of accompanying 

 me in my pursuit of the Giraffes, which, up to that time, they had 

 hunted solely for the sake of the flesh, which they eat, and of the 

 skin, from which they make bucklers and sandals. I availed myself 

 of the emulation which prevailed among the Arabs, and as the sea- 

 son was far advanced and favourable, I proceeded immediately to 

 the south-west of Kordofan. 



" It was on the 15 th of August that I saw the first two Giraffes. 

 A rapid chase, on horses accustomed to the fatigues of the desert, 

 put us in possession, at the end of three hours, of the largest of the 

 two : the mother of one of those now in my charge. Unable to 

 take her alive, the Arabs killed her with blows of the sabre, and. 



