° SCOLOPAX SATURATA. 



neck. But our bird is distinguished from the Scolopax rusticola, and from the 

 Scolopax minor, by the darkness and uniformity of its colour, and by the regularity 

 and simplicity of its transverse bands. 



• 



The Scolopax saturata is generally variegated with alternate bands of deep 

 brown and chestnut. On the upper parts the bands are nearly regularly transverse 

 in their disposition, but the brown bands are considerably broader than those of a 

 chestnut colour. On the middle of the back, large patches of brown are irregularly 

 scattered ; and the extremity of the tail is dark, and terminated by a narrow band of 

 a sooty colour. The forehead is variegated with small bands of deep brown and 

 chestnut. On the back part of the head, and on the neck above, the tint is very 

 dark inclining to black ; and three transverse chestnut bands exhibit the character of 

 this section. A black line extends from the base of the biU to the anterior canthus 

 of the eye. At the base of the lower mandible is a whitish spot. The throat, the 

 anterior part of the neck, and the breast, are marked with alternate bands of brown 

 and chestnut, of equal breadth. On the abdomen, vent, and thighs, the alternate 

 bands are pale inclining to yellowish-white ; and in this pecidiarity of a paler tint to 

 the under parts, our bird agrees with the other Woodcocks. The tail also has the 

 same disposition as in the Scolopax rusticola and minor. The tail-feathers are tapering 

 towards the extremity, and have a white band underneath, at the tip. The feet and 

 the biU have a brownish colour, inclining to tawny. In size, our bii-d agrees with 

 the American Woodcock. It is figured on the Plate, of natural size. 



A single individual only of the Scolopax saturata is contained in the Museum 

 of the Honourable East India Company. This was obtained near the banks of a 

 mountain-lake, many miles from a human habitation, in the forests of Mount Prahu, 

 about 7000 feet above the level of the ocean. This part of Java, which is rarely 

 visited even by the natives themselves, contains a great variety of rare and interesting 

 animal and vegetable productions. Not only on account of its locality, but also on 

 account of its nocturnal habits, in which it agrees with the other birds of the section, 

 it is obtained with great difficulty. It forms its nest on the earth, and remains con- 

 cealed during the greatest part of the day. Its food is most plentifully supplied by larvae 

 of insects, and by worms of every description, which abound in the vegetable mould 

 covering these elevated districts. 



