34:0 NOTES ON SOME BURMESE BIRDS. 



873.— Rhynchaea bengalensis, L. 



The Painted Snipe is uncommon in Barman according to my 

 experience. I met with four or five once at Wan, 12 miles 

 east of Pegu, late in the evening and shot one. It was a male 

 and measured : Length, 10 ; expanse, 18*0 ; tail, 16 ; wing, 

 5-25; bill, from gape, 194; tarsus, 187 ; middle toe and claw, 

 1-75 ; rectrices 14 in number. 



The iris wns olive brown ; the e} T elids covered with down ; 

 basal half of bill olivaceous, the terminal half reddish brown, 

 turning to pure brown at the extreme tip ; inside of mouth 

 flesh color ; legs, deep olive color ; claws, black 



Lieutenant Wardlaw Ramsay wrote to me some time ago 

 that he had found the nest of this bi id near Tounghoo. 



875.— Limosa segocephala, L. 



Numerous flocks of this bird are to be seen during the cold 

 weather on the mud flats of the Sittang River at low water. 

 It is the true cegocephala with pure white axillaries. 



I have succeeded in shooting only two birds. The difference 

 of size between individuals of the same flock is very startling. 



In April, and for what I know perhaps throughout the year, 

 the basal half of the lower mandible is light flesh colour, and 

 that of the upper, dark brown ; the terminal halves of both are 

 dark brownish black ; the legs and toes are dark sooty brown ; 

 the claw r s black ; the iris dark brown ; the inside of the mouth 

 flesh color. 



The mud-banks at the mouth of the Wan Creek, on the 

 western bank of the Sittang at the village of Gway biuzate, 

 are perhaps the best place in all Burmah for waders and sea- 

 birds. Godwits, Curlews, Terns and Gulls are all numerous as 

 soon as the tide falls each day, and in the immediate vicinity 

 immense flocks of Pelicans are generally to be met with. These 

 latter are very wary and require careful stalking. Altogether 

 this place is a most delightful one for a few hours' shooting. 

 All boats proceeding to Tounghoo are obliged to anchor here 

 for some time, varying according to circumstances, to allow the 

 formidable Sittang bore to run by. 



915.— Leptoptilos dubius, Gm. 



Though not so common as javanicus, the Adjutant is to be met 

 with all the year round throughout the plains of Lower Pegu. 

 At the end of the rains, when swamps are drying up and fish 

 can be taken in bucketsful, it associates in large flocks, and, 

 with Pelicans, is a special object of aversion to all the fishermen 

 of the district, who after paying Government large rents for 



