SCOLOPAXROSTRATULA 757 



Btcasse ordinaire, French ; Gallinkola, Portug. ; Becada, 

 Chocha, Span. ; Beccaccia, Ital. ; Waldschnepfe, German ; 

 Woudsnep, Dutch ; Skovsneppe, Dan. ; Eugde, Norweg. ; Morkulla, 

 Swed. ; Lehtokurppa, Finn. ; Waldschnep, Shabashka, Russ. ; 

 Simtitar, Hindu. ; Himar el hedjel, Moor. ; Hodo-shigi, Jap. 



ad. (Smyrna). Forehead dull light grey marked with dark brown ; 

 hind head black crossed by three irregular yellowish buff and rusty brown 

 bands ; upper parts reddish brown, barred and marked with black and 

 warm ochreous ; tail black and marked with rusty red and tipped with 

 buffy grey ; chin white ; sides of head greyish, marked with brown and 

 rufous ; under parts dull rufous white with narrow undulating transverse 

 dusky brown bars ; bill dull flesh-colour becoming dark brown at the end ; 

 legs greyish flesh-brown ; iris blackish brown. Culmen 3*2, wing 7*7, 

 tail 3 '35, tarsus 1*4 inch. Sexes alike. The young bird has the outer 

 webs of the primaries with distinct fulvous notches, the upper parts rather 

 darker, and the under parts paler. 



Hob. Northern Europe and Asia, north to about 66-67", 

 breeding however as far south as the Azores, Canaries, Madeira, 

 and the Himalayas ; wintering in South Europe, rarely in North 

 Africa, in Japan, China, and India ; accidental in Eastern North 

 America. 



Is chiefly nocturnal in its habits, remaining during the day- 

 time till evening in dense covers, especially where the soil is 

 damp, and feeding at night, its food consisting of worms and 

 insects of various kinds. In the breeding season the male flies 

 along certain regular routes, uttering its peculiar call orrt, orrt, 

 pisp. Its nest is a hollow in the ground thickly lined with dry 

 leaves, usually in the borders of a grove or a sparse thicket, and 

 the eggs, 4 in number, are deposited late in April or early in 

 May. These are creamy buff or dark stone-buff with pale dull 

 purplish shell-markings and dark brown surface spots, these last 

 being more numerous at the larger end. In size they measure 

 about 175 by 1*32. The young are conveyed from the nest to their 

 feeding grounds by being carried between the parents' thighs. 



KOSTRATULA, VieilL, 1816. 



1051. PAINTED SNIPE. 

 ROSTRATULA CAPENSIS. 



Rostratula capensis (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 246 (1766) ; (Layard), B. of 

 S. Afr. p. 334 ; (David and Oust), Ois. Chine, p. 480 ; (Milne-Edw. 

 and Grandid.), Hist. Nat. Madag. pi. 261 and pi. 306, fig. 9 (eggs) ; 

 (Seebohm), B. Jap. Emp. p. 340 ; Sharpe, Cat B. Br. Mus. xxiv. 

 p. 683 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. pp. 293 ; R. bengalensit, 

 (Linn.), torn. cit. i. p. 263. 



3 D 2 



