RHYNCH/EA. $09 



streaked with reddish or yellowish brown on their outer webs ; tail dusky or 

 dark brown, edged near the tips with pale ferruginous ; under tail coverts 

 white ; legs and feet pale greenish ; irides deep brown. 



Length. &$ inches ; bill dark brown at the tip, r6 to r8 inches in length 

 at front ; wing 4 to 4*6 inches ; tail i'8 to 2*2. 



Hab. Everywhere in India, and more plentiful than the common snipe, 

 with which it is generally associated. In Sind small parties begin to arrive 

 about the 26th August, or a few days earlier than the common snipe. It is a 

 difficult bird to flush, seldom rising until nearly trampled upon. It prefers 

 deep cover at all times, but I have often seen them on the oozy, simi-fluid mud 

 of back waters, where there was not even a stubble for cover. 



Gen. Rhynchsea. Cuv. 



Bill shorter than in Gallinago, curved downwards at the tip ; wings 

 rounded ; tarsi long ; tibia nearly entirely bare. 



1287- Rhynchaea capensiS, Linn., Syst.Naf. i, p 246. Rhynchsea 

 Bengalensis, Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 677; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. 

 p. 586; Salvad., Ucc. Born. p. 335; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 157 ; Butler, Sir. 

 F. iv. p. 15 ; v. p. 223 ; Dav. el Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 480; War dlaw- Ramsay, 

 Ibis, 1877, p. 469; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 459; Cripps t Sir. F.vii. 

 p. 302 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 1 12 ; Legge, B. Ceylon p. 800 ; Bingham, 

 Sir. F. ix. p. 197; Hume and Marsh., Game Birds iii. p. 381, pi. ; Oates, Str. 

 F. x. p. 239; Murray, Vert. Zool. y Sind, p. 242; Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. 

 p. 386. The PAINTED SNIPE. 



Crown of the head with a broad mesial longitudinal line, bordered by dark 

 brown, nearly black feathers, which form a line from the sides of the upper 

 mandible to the nape, where it is broader than in front ; a yellowish buff 

 circle round the eye, and a line behind it ; chin and throat whitish, the 

 feathers with some faint dusky spots ; neck in front and breast olive brown, 

 the feathers with white spots and bars ; the feathers on the lower part of the 

 sides and middle of the breast nearly dark brown, forming a dark pectoral 

 band, another similar band below this with a white interspace, but not meeting 

 on the breast ; hind neck olivaceous, finely marked with dark transverse 

 strise ; mantle and scapulars dark brown, with dark margined buffy yellow 

 and white bars ; wing coverts and tertiaries pale olive, with black margined 

 transverse bands or bars of rufous buff, broader and more conspicuous on the 

 tertiaries ; outer web of the first primary grey brown, the rest paler, and all 

 with 5 6 buff or rufous buff ocelli ; the interspaces between the basal three 

 ocelli deep black, and between the terminal ones greyish brown ; inner webs 

 of primaries with white bars and dark wavy lines and marblings ; secondaries 

 ashy grey, ocellated with buff on their outer webs, the interspaces basally 

 black, and terminally with dark brown wavy lines ; their inner webs, like the 

 VOL. II. 79 



