GA.LLINAGO. 289 



at the other, dull graen to olive in colour, and double-spotted as 

 usual. The eggs are very large for the size of the bird, measuring 

 about 1-6 by M. 



1485. Gallinago stenura. The Pintail Snipe. 



Scolopax stenura, Kuhl, Bonap. Ann. Stor. Nat. Bologna, iv, 

 p. 335 (1830) ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 477. 



Scolopax horsfieldii, J. E. Gray in Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. ii, pi. 54 

 (1833-34). 



Gallinago horsfieldii, G. R. Gray, List Sp. B. Brit. Mas. pt. iii, 

 p. 110 (1844) ; Hume # Gates, S. F. iii, p. 182. 



Gallinago stenura *, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 583 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 272 ; 

 Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 674 ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 392 ; Blanfurd, 

 J.A.S.B. xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 191 ; Godw. -Austen, J. A. S. B. xxxix, 

 pt. 2, p. 273; xlv, pt. 2, p. 84; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 318; 

 G. F. L. Marshall, S. l.i,y. 423; Cripps, ibid. p. 496 ; Hume, 

 S. F. ii, p. 294; Parker, ibid. p. 335; Le Messurier, S. F. iii, 

 p. 380 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burnt, p. 156 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, 

 p. 340 ; Butler, S. F. v, pp. 212, 232 ; Hume. ibid. pp. 214, 329; 

 Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 459 ; Hume 8f Bourd. S. F. vii, p. 39 ; 

 Davids. $ Wenden, ibid. p. 88; Ball, ibid. p. 228; Cripps, ibid. 

 p. 301 ; Hume, ibid. p. 483 ; id. Cat. no. 870 ; Bingham, S. F. viii, 

 p. 196 ; Scully, ibid. p. 354 ; Butler, ibid. p. 501 ; Leqge, Birds 

 Ceylon, p. 816; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 339, pi. ; Vidal, 

 S. F. ix, p. 83 ; Butler, ibid. p. 428 ; Reid, S. F. x, p, 68 ; 

 Rayment, ibid. p. 172 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 320 ; Davison, ibid. 

 p. 413; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 383; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 344; 

 Hume Sf Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 319; 8harpe > Yark. Miss., Aves, 

 p. 144 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 619. 



This species is distinguished from the preceding (1) by having 

 normally 26 tail-feathers (10 soft broad feathers in the middle, and 8 

 narrow stiff feathers, shorter than the others, on each side) instead of 

 the 14 in G. codestis. (Occasionally there are, in G. stenura, according 

 to Hume and other good authorities, as many as 9 lateral feathers 

 on one side or on both, and on the other hand some of the feathers 

 are often wanting. These feathers as a rule can only be seen by 

 turning back the tail-coverts.) (2) By the wing-lining and axillaries 

 in G. stenura being regularly arid evenly barred throughout with 

 blackish-brown and white, the bars of the two colours about equally 

 broad : (3) by the bill in G. stenura being scarcely broader towards 

 the point and furnished with few pores ; that of G. coelestis being 

 considerably dilated and broader for the terminal inch and pitted 

 with numerous pores, which are best seen in the dried skin : (4) 

 by the outer web of the 1st primary being brown in G. stenura, 

 white or whitish in G. coelestis : (5) by G. coelestis having broad 

 white tips to the secondaries, whilst G. sttnura has narrow white 

 edges or none. 



* Often printed sthenura,, which however is incorrect. As Oates has 

 shown, the name was originally printed stenura by Bonaparte. Hume, it is 

 true, in ' Game Birds,' p. 33'J note, writes under the belief that sthenura was 

 the original spelling, but he is mistaken. The .-pelling sthenura appears to have 

 originated in a misprint or mistake (Boie, Isis, 1833, p. 1077). 



VOL. IV. U 



