580 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



bill are deep brown, blackish hoary towards the tip, and paling 

 towards the opposite direction." (Hume). 



All I can add to these notes is that I have often seen the 

 Pintail with legs and feet of an olive-yellow colour even in Sep- 

 tember and October, and have had specimens sent me in these 

 months whose legs when fresh ? were described as yellow, and it is 

 probable that old birds have their legs more decidedly yellow, than 

 the young. 



Description, Adult Female. — The female only differs from the 

 male in being somewhat larger. 



Hume gives the dimensions of the female as "length 10 - 1 to 

 11-17 ; expanse 16'1 to 18*25; wing 5 - to 5-58 ; tail from vent 

 2-0 to 2-67; tarsus 1-2 to 1-85 ; bill from gape 2-38 to 2-62 ; bill at 

 front 2-45 to 2*7; weight 3-75 to 5-1 oz., average 4' 2 oz." 



The average measurements of those I have measured have been 

 males, wing 5-11", bill 2-35"; females, wing 5-25", bill 2-41". 

 Sharpe gives the measurements as male, wing 4*9", bill 2-3"; 

 female, wing 5-1", bill 2-45". 



The Pintail Snipe is extremely variable in its plumage, and I 

 quote Hume's remarks, anent this variation, in full. He says : " I 

 have specimens now before me with the entire lower breast, abdo- 

 men and vent pure white and unmarked. I have others with the 

 whole of these parts barred, almost as strongly and as regularly 

 as in nemoricula. There are some in which the front of the 

 throat and upper breast are fawn-coloured blurred with numerous 

 illdefined spots and streaks of dark brown, and others in which 

 the upper breast is strongly and distinctly, though irregularly 

 barred . The upper surfaces differ widely — some are 



altogether brighter, the black more intense, the markings on the 

 scapulars are more intense rusty, their pale margins a brighter 

 and richer buff." 



The variations in the under parts are certainly individual, but 

 on the upper parts the brightness and depth of colouring depend, 

 as is so many birds, on the newness of the feathers. As is well 

 known black and red are the colours, next to green which tveather 

 most and consequently shew most variation in the colouration of 

 new and old feathers. 



