GALLINAGO 417 



the inner secondaries (except the innermost elongated ones) -am 

 blackish with white tips and no rufous bars ; the three outer tail- 

 feathers are white with clearly marked dusky spots, or bars, on the 

 outer web ; finally, the bill is somewhat longer. 



Iris dark hazel ; bill black ; legs brownish-green. 



Length about 11-0 ; wing 5-1 ; tail 2-6 ; culmen 2-9 ; tarsus 1'45. 

 The female resembles the male ; wing 4-9 ; culmen 3'3 ; tarsus 1-5. 



Distribution. This Snipe is confined to Africa, where it appears 

 to be a resident ; its range extends from Abyssinia, through Central 

 Africa and Nyasaland to Cape Colony ; it does not appear to have 

 been met with in West Africa, except in Angola, while in Mada- 

 gascar a peculiar species (G. macrodactyla) occurs. 



In South Africa the Ethiopian Snipe is widely distributed 

 throughout the country, though rare in Bechuanaland and in 

 German South-west Africa. It is a resident, though probably 

 subject to local movements in search of damp ground. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony Cape divi- 

 sion, October, Caledon, February, Albany (S. A. Mus.), Port Eliza- 

 beth, rare (Eickard and Brown), East London, rare (Eickard and 

 Wood), King William's Town (Trevelyan), Deelfontein, July (Sei- 

 mund), near Aliwal North, breeding (Wood) ; Natal Isipingo 

 Flats, near Durban (Bt. Mus.), Maritzburg, May (Buckley), New- 

 castle, April, May, June, September (Butler and Eeid) ; Transvaal 

 Potchefstroom, breeding, April, July, August, December (Ayres) ; 

 Linokana, in Zeerust, July (Holub), Johannesburg (Eoss) ; Eho- 

 desia near Salisbury (Marshall) ; Damaraland (Andersson, in 

 Bt. Mus.). 



Habits. The Ethiopian Snipe is generally distributed over 

 South Africa, where there is suitable ground ; they move about 

 from place to place as the swamps and vleis gradually dry up ; they 

 lie more closely and fly more slowly than the English Snipe, and 

 are therefore not nearly so difficult to shoot. Their food consists of 

 worms and aquatic insects, which they obtain by boring in the 

 damp ground with their long bills, while pebbles and small stones 

 as well are usually found in their stomachs to aid, doubtless, in the 

 process of digestion. Snipes are somewhat nocturnal in their habits, 

 and during the breeding season the cocks perform a series of curious 

 evolutions in the air, rising, and then descending again, at the same 

 time making a curious loud vibrating, rushing sound, compared by 

 Ayres to the neighing of a horse. The same sound is made by the 

 English Snipe (G. ccelestis), and is usually known as " drumming." 

 27 VOL. iv. 



