PIN-TAILED SNIPE. 123 



84. Subspilura megala. PIN-TAILED SNIPE. 



Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 4, pi. 167, Dec. 31st, 1913. 



Gallinago megala Swinhoe, Ibis, 1861, p. 343, Oct. : Pekin, China. 



Gallinago heterocerca Cabanis, Journ. fiir Orn., 1870 (June No.), p. 235 : Luzon. 



Gallinago australis owcni Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 223, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Parry's 



Creek, North-west Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Winter visitor to Northern Australia, breeding in the northern hemisphere. 



Adult male. Differs from Ditdmatias hardwickii (Gray) in its smaller size, and 

 in having twenty tail-feathers, the outer six on each side being very narrow, the 

 outermost being the narrowest and the others increasing in width. The light streaks 

 in the head are much lighter that is, with only a tinge of buff ; the colouring of the 

 upper -surface is much lighter. The two outer tail-feathers are tipped with white, 

 with irregular bands of brown, more noticeable on the inner web ; the next four 

 becoming gradually more uniform blackish -brown ; distal half of bill blackish- 

 brown, basal half of upper mandible greyish-brown ; base of lower mandible grey ; 

 iris brown ; feet and tarsus lead-grey. Total length 257 mm. (in the flesh) ; culmen 

 59, wing 138, tail 55, tarsus 35. 



Adult female. Similar to the male. 



Immature. Duller above, with rufous edgings to the feathers above and behind 

 the eyes, to the inner webs of the scapulars and upper tail-coverts ; the wing-coverts 

 more dusky ; the markings on the scapulars and secondaries are more rufous ; the 

 outer tail-feathers lack the bold white tips of the adult, the markings being dusky ; 

 the under tail-coverts are also dusky-rufous, not pale buffy-white, and the feathers 

 of the throat and upper-breast have longitudinal black centre-streaks. 



Nestling. Does not appear to have been described. 



Nest. A hollow, lined with grass. 



Eggs. Clutch, four ; ground-colour, creamy-white or a little more yellow 

 or pale, dirty ochre. The spots of the lower end are of pale reddish, the upper 

 reddish-brown or brown ; the larger ones slanting, and coming together at the 

 larger end, where there are also sometimes either zigzags or spots ; on the rest of 

 the surface there are only dots and little stripes ; axis 40-43 mm., diameter 30-32. 



Breeding -season. June. (Siberia.) 



Distribution and forms. Breeding in Eastern Siberia from Lake Baikal to the 

 Sea of Japan, ranging southward in winter to Northern Australia, where it has been 

 recorded from Northern Territory and North-west Australia, but occurs in Dutch 

 New Guinea, so should be looked for in Queensland. No subspecies are known. 



Genus CALIDRIS. 



Calidris (Anon.) Allg. Lit. Zeitung, Vol. 2, No. 168, June 8th, 1804, col. 542. Type (by 

 tautonymy) : Tringa calidris = Tringa canutus Linne. (cf. Richmond (3) p. 581, Aug. 25th 



1917.) 



Canutus id., ib. Type (by monotypy) : " Knot " = Tringa canutus Linne. 

 Calidris Cuvier, Regne Anim., Vol. I., p. 489, " 1817 " = Dec. 7th, 1816. Type (by mono- 

 typy) : Tringa canutus Linne. 



Canutus Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vogel Deutschl., p. 653, (pref. July) 1831. Type (by 

 tautonymy) : Tringa canutus Linne. 



Tringa Gray, List. Genera Birds, 1st ed., p. 69, April 1840. Type (by original designation) : 

 Tringa canutus, Linne. 

 Not of Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 148, 1758. 



Stout medium Waders with short straight bills, long wings, short tail, short 

 stout legs and feet. The culmen is short, stout and straight, the tip decidedly 

 expanded but not punctulate ; the groove in the upper mandible extends almost 

 to the tip. The culmen is noticeably depressed, in the terminal half, to the tip ; 



