408 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Genus PSEUDOSCOLOPAX, Bl. 



749, PSEUDOSCOLOPAX SEMIPALMATUS, 

 THE SNIPE-BILLED GODWIT. 



Macrorhamphus semipalmatus, Jerd. Bl. J. A. S. B. xvii. p. 252; Jerd. B. 2nd. 

 ii. p. 679 ; Hume, S. F. vii. p. 484. Pseudoscolopax semipalmatus, Swinh. 

 P. Z. S. 1863, p. 313, 1871, p. 407 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 332'; David et Oust. 

 Ois. Chine, p. 474, pi. 121 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 112 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game 

 Birds, in. p. 395, pi. ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 239. 



Description. Winter plumage. Lores brown; a broad streak over the 

 lores white ; sides of the head, chin, throat, fore neck and breast white 

 densely marked with short brown streaks ; abdomen and vent white ; under 

 tail- coverts white marked with V-shaped brown marks ; sides of the body 

 white irregularly barred with brown ; under wing-coverts white ; axillaries 

 white with a few irregular short brown bars ; forehead, crown, nape, hind 

 neck, sides of the neck, back, scapulars and tertiaries brown, each feather 

 margined with greyish white; upper wing-coverts dark brown broadly 

 edged with white; primary-coverts brown; primaries brown, the tips 

 darker, the shafts white, the outer webs narrowly margined with white ; 

 secondaries brown, broadly edged with white and irregularly barred with 

 the same ; rump, upper tail-coverts and tail white broadly barred with 

 brown. 



In summer, according to Messrs. David and Oustalet, the upper plumage 

 is bright rufous, with brown streaks on the nape, lores and hind neck, and 

 with large brown spots on the dorsal feathers ; lower plumage more uniform 

 rufous, with a little white on the edges of the feathers of the abdomen and 

 some irregular brown streaks on the feathers of the flanks and under tail- 

 coverts ; wing- coverts, secondaries and tertiaries greyish brown bordered 

 with white ; primaries brown with the shafts white ; tail-feathers brown, 

 transversely banded with white. 



Bill black, turning to plumbeous at the base ; iris dark brown ; legs and 

 toes dark plumbeous ; claws black. 



Length 13'5 inches, tail 2*5 to 2*9, wing 6'8 to 7, tarsus 2'05, bill from 

 gape 2*9 to 3*25 The sexes appear to be of very much the same size. 



This species is femarkable for having the general appearance of a Godwit 

 and the bill of a Snipe, the terminal half of this member being swollen 

 and covered with small pits as in the Snipes, and the feet are webbed to a 

 considerable exteut 



The Snipe-billed Godwit appears to be a very rare species. I shot two 

 specimens in Pe^u on the 29th of September near Kyeikpadein, and I 



