294 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



tips of the primaries, aud the outer webs of the second- 

 aries ; the whole of the lesser and median coverts, the 

 scapulars, elongated tertials, rump and upper tail coverts and a 

 patch on the margin of the wing between the winglet and the 

 primary greater coverts, pure white ; the upper and middle 

 back, the feathers of which latter are considerably elongated, 

 jet black with a greenish blue reflection ; the central tail 

 feathers pale brownish French grey, the color fading successively 

 on each pair as they recede from the centre ; the winglet, 

 primaries and secondaries, and their greater coverts, black or 

 nearly so on the outer webs, and in the case of the earlier 

 primaries on both webs at the tips ; inner webs, paler brown 

 towards the tips, and white or nearly so on the basal portion ; 

 some of the less elongated tertials, next the secondaries, grey 

 brown on the outer webs, white interiorly ; the shafts of 

 the primaries are very broad, and except at the extreme tips 

 pure white ; the lower tail coverts extend quite to the tip of 

 the tail. 



In the young bird the whole of the occiput and nape are 

 streaked with black, the portions that are black on the back in 

 the adult are dull grey powdered with black in the young ; the 

 scapulars, tertials and lesser and median coverts are pale grey 

 brown, as a,re also the tail feathers : the quills and their 

 greater coverts have the blackish brown of the adults replaced 

 by a dirty umber brown. 



870.— Gallinago stanura, Kuhl. (19.) 



Specimens from the Andamans are identical with birds from 

 Southern India. We observed the bird in the Nicobars also, 

 especially on the fresh water ponds at Trinkut, but we, by some 

 oversight, neglected to preserve specimens. 



In Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 423, my friend Captain G. F. L. 

 Marshall expressed an opinion that the bill in this species 

 was not shorter than in scolop acinus, and that the lower wing 

 coverts were not more richly barred than in many specimens 

 of that species. I am absolutely unable to concur in this view. 

 First, as regards the bill, of course specimens of the same sex 

 of both species must be compared. The females in both 

 species have considerably longer bills than the males, and it 

 will not, therefore, do to compare males of the one against 

 females of the other. Taking a number of stenura from all 

 parts of India at random, the bills in the males vary from 

 2 - 2 to 2 - 4; of the females from 2'5 to 2*65; in scolopacinus 

 the bills of the males vary from 2'5 to 2'6 ; iu the females from 



