182 SCOLOPACID^]. 



the winter gives one the impression that it is migratory. The bird, 

 however, only retires to breed in the extensive lonely marshes. The nest 

 is a slight depression on the moist ground close to the water, and lined 

 with a little withered grass. The eggs are four, pear-shaped, and spotted 

 with black on an olive-coloured ground. 



After the summer heats are over Snipes suddenly appear again all 

 over the country, and at this season they are frequently met with on the 

 high and dry grounds among the withered grass and thistles. In 

 favourable wet seasons they sometimes collect in large flocks, numbering 

 not less than five or six hundred birds, and a flock of this kind will 

 occasionally remain in one spot for several months without breaking up. 

 They usually frequent an open spot of level ground where the water just 

 covers the roots of the short grass ; here the birds keep close together 

 while feeding and are visible from a long distance ; but they become 

 extremely wary, all raising their heads in a very un-Snipe-like manner 

 at the slightest alarm, and taking flight with the readiness of Wild 

 Ducks. These flocks are, however, not often met with. Usually the 

 Snipe is a solitary bird, crouches close when approached, and springs 

 up suddenly when almost trodden on, loudly uttering its sharp scraping 

 alarm-cry ; after rising to a considerable height, flying in a wild erratic 

 manner, it returns suddenly to the earth, often dropping into the grass 

 within twenty yards of the spot it rose from. 



It is, indeed, curious to see how these habits, characteristic of the 

 Snipes all over the world, are so completely laid aside when the birds 

 associate in large flocks. 



Early and late in the day many individuals are usually on the wing 

 engaged in their aerial pastimes, the singular grinding sounds caused 

 by their feathers in their violent descent from a great height being 

 distinctly audible at a distance of nearly a mile. It is heard throughout 

 the winter at all hours of the day in mild damp weather, and on moon- 

 light nights often until after midnight. 



398. RHYNCHJEA SEMICOLLABIS (Vieill). 

 (PAINTED SNIPE.) 



Rhynchaea hilarii, Burm. La-Plata Eeise, ii. p. 504 (Rio Parana). Bhynchaea 

 semicollaris, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. 8. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres) ; iid. 

 Nomend. p. 145 ; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 199 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 403 

 (Chupat) ; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); Seebohm, Plows, p. 459, 

 pi. xix. ; Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). 



Description. Above dark brown ; head black, with a central and two lateral 

 longitudinal bands of buffy white ; wings ashy blackish, spotted with bu% 



