Painted Snipe in Ceylon. 529 



found tlierc, I came across only half a dozen specimens. 

 In the Western Province^ about 25 miles north of Colombo, 

 I have found the bird more numerous, both relatively and 

 absolutely, than anywhere else. 



Hume and Marshall state that one Rostratula to every 

 fifty Pin-tailed Snipe gives a fair idea of the frequency with 

 which the "Painter " figures in the sportsman's bag; but 

 in the above district I shot, in 1908, 15 Painted Snipe 

 and 200 Pin-tailed, and in 1909, 25 as against 130. 



But eveu here, where they were so numerous, they oc- 

 curred '^discontinuously.^' There were certain fields in 

 which 1 rarely failed to see one of these birds, while in 

 others, not a quarter of a mile away and to all appearances 

 just as suitable as regards food, moisture, and cover, I have 

 never met with one. 



I can offer no explanation of this uneven and sporadic 

 distribution, and probably, as an authority on the subject 

 of Geographical Distribution has said, the reason, if we 

 could see it, would not appear to us as such. 



As regards the systematic position of Rostratula, it is 

 usually placed with the Snipes (Scolopacidse) among the 

 Limicolee. Beddard, however, suggests that it is more 

 nearly allied to the Jacanas (Parridse) than to the 

 Snipes. Although in some respects differing from the 

 Scolopacidae, e. g. in the nature of the trachea and the bill, 

 Rostratula seems to have little claim to affinity with the 

 Parridse. Thus the skull is Snipe-like, and the bill, which 

 differs from that of Snipes in having the upper mandible 

 slightly longer than the lower, and overhanging it at the tip, 

 is, in all other respects, Snipe-like and far longer than that 

 of any Jacana ; while, on the other hand, the toes are not 

 conspicuously long, as they invariably are in those birds. 



In habits Rostratula capensis may be described as inter- 

 mediate between the Rails and Snipes ; it certainly exhibits 

 none of that love for open expanses of water which has 

 earned for some species of Jacana the soubriquet of 

 " Water Pheasant.'' 



Though always found in '^ Snipe-ground," Rostratula 



