SCOLOPAX AUSTRALIS. 



(New Holland Snipe.) 



■*' 



Line down the centre of the head, a broader line over each eye, cheeks, and throat, whitish buff; a broad line of rich brown on each side of 

 the head; neck and chest, whitish buff, mottled with umber brown ; back and scapularies, deep blackish brown, each feather broadly margined 

 on the external edge with buff, and more or less regularly striped with rufous ; shoulders, greyish brown ; coverts, dirty buffy white, barred 

 with dull brown ; primaries and spurious wing, brown, the latter slightly tipped with whitish ; secondaries and tertiaries, regularly striped 

 with blackish brown on a lighter ground, and more or less tipped with buffy white ; rump, rufous buff, closely barred with brown ; tail, black 

 at the base, followed by fawn color, and tipped with white ; flanks, greyish white, striped with greyish brown ; middle of abdomen, white ; 

 thighs and under tail coverts, buffy white; bill, greenish yellow at the base, and tipped with brown; irides, very dark brown ; feet, olive. 



Length, 13-|- inches ; wing, 6i ; tail, 3 ; bill, 2| ; tarsus, 1^. 



This is larger than the English species (Scolopax Grallinago), but very similar in appearance, and the only one found in 

 Australia, being distributed over the whole of the continent and Tasmania. It frequents marshy and swampy localities, living upon the 

 worms, insects, and molluscs always obtainable in such situations. The long and narrow bill is covered with a soft pulpy membrane, endowed 

 with an exquisite sense of feeling, enabling it to detect its food among the soft mud with unerring certainty. The flesh is delicious, and 

 snipe-shooting in Australia is similar in every respect to the same sport in England. Nothing certain is known concerning its nidification, 

 but it is supposed to breed in Tasmania. 



HHYNCHCEA AUSTPtALIS. 



(Australian BJiynchoea.) 



♦ 



Male — A stripe from the bill over the centre of the crown to the nape, and another behind the eye, light buff; the rest of the crown, dark 

 brown ; throat and cheeks, greyish white, mottled with brown ; chest, deep greyish brown, mottled with white ; back, brownish olive, finely 

 banded with dark brown ; shoulders, buffish grey ; wing coverts, scapularies, and tertiaries, the same, but ornamented wdth large whitish buff 

 spots, each surrounded by a dark brown line ; tail, grey, banded with dark brown, and spotted with large oval buff spots ; primaries, black, 

 banded with rich buff ; a broad band of white across the chest, followed by a blackish patch on the side of the chest— the patch marked Avith 

 grey and white spots ; the remainder of the under surface, pure white ; legs and feet, light olive ; irides, dark brown ; bill, greenish tipped 

 with brown. 



The female has the wings more of an olive brown tint, finely barred with deep brown, and destitute of the spots on the scapu- 

 laries and wing coverts. Her coloring on the neck and chest is more intense, the patch on the side of the chest being nearly black, and 

 without spots. She is also larger than the male. 



Length of male, 8i inches ; wing, 4-5- ; tail, 2 ; bill, l-f ; tarsus. If. 



This rare and elegant species, the " painted snipe" of the colonists, is found in New South Wales and Queensland. The Pine 

 Mountain, near Ipswich, and Eagle Earm Elats, near Brisbane, may be mentioned as localities Avhere it has been recently met Avith. Captain 

 Sturt found it in the interior, and mentions it in his journal, Avith the remark that it Avas nowhere common, and delighted to bask in the 

 shade of a tree during the mid-day heat. Its food is similar to that of the common snipe, and its flight, though laborious, is straight and 

 powerful. When disturbed, it seeks to hide itself among the bushes or reeds, and is not easily driven from its lurking place. Although 

 nothing is known of its nidification, it probably breeds in the colony of Ncav South Wales, as Mr. Gould mentions having met with it on the 

 rich alluvial flats of the river Hunter, and, on dissecting a female, an egg was found in the ovarium, of the full size, but destitute of its cal- 

 careous covering. He also mentions a peculiai-ity in the structure of the trachea of the female, Avhich makes four convolutions underneath 

 the skin of the breast before entering the lungs. The use of this curious arrangement is unknown, the supposition being that it assists in 

 the utterance of some peculiar cry ; but thei'C is no instance recorded of its doing so, the bird appearing to be perfectly voiceless. 



