EHYNCH^A. 



457 



Rallus benghalensis, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 153 (1758) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 263 (1766). 



Tringa totanus bengalensis, > 



Scolopax gallinago maderaspatana, '^ Brisson, Orn. v. pp, 209 & 308, vi. Suppl. p. 141 (1760). 



Scolopax gallinago capitis bonse spei, J 



Scolopax capensis, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 246 (1766). 



Scolopax chinensis, Boddaert, Tabl. PL Enl. p. 53 (1783). 



Scolopax maderaspatana {Briss.), Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 667 (1788). 



Scolopax sinensis, Latham, Index Orn. ii. p. 717 (1790). 



Rhyncbsea capensis {Linn.), Cuvier, Eigne An. i. p. 488 (1816). 



Rostratula capensis (Linn.),~\ 



Rostratula sinensis {Lath.) , 



Rostratula indica, 



Rostratula viridis, 



Rhynchaea variegata, Vieillot ^ Oudart, Gal. Ois. ii. p. 109 (1825). 



Rynchsea orientalis, Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 193 (1820). 



Rhynchaea sinensis (Vieill.), Vieillot, Tabl. Enc. Meth., Orn. iii. p. 1164 (1823). 



Rhynchsea africana, "\ 



Rhynchaea bengalensis {Linn.), \ Lesson, Man. d'Orn, ii. p. 270 (1828). 



Rhynchaea madagascariensis, J 



Scolopax mauritiana, Desjardins, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 45. 



Rhynchaea picta, Gray, Zool. Miscell. i. p. 18 (1831). 



Rhynchaea indica, Hodgson, Gray's Zool. Miscell. 1844, p. 86. 



Synonymy. 



Vieillot, N. Did. d'Hist. Nat. vii. pp. 1, 2 (1817). 



Plates. — Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, Hist. Madag., Ois., Atlas, iii. pi. 261 ; Daub. PI. Enl. Literature. 



nos. 270, 922 ; Shelley, Birds of Egypt, pi. xi. 

 Habits. — Hume & Marshall, Game Birds India &c. iii. p. 381. 

 Eggs.— Jardine, Contr. Orn. 1852, pi. 89. 



The Painted Snipe may be diagnosed from its South-American congener by its size, 

 wing from carpal joint about five inches, and from its Australian one by i)i\& greater number 

 of buff spots on its quills. The Indian species has four buff spots on the outer web of the 

 8th primary, whilst the Australian species has only two. 



The Painted Snipe has a very wide range, extending over the whole of the Ethiopian 

 Region, including Madagascar, and in Eastern Africa reaching down the valley of the Nile iloZ 

 into Egypt, whence it stretches eastwards across Arabia and Southern Afghanistan into 

 India, Ceylon, Burma, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Philippine Islands, Formosa, China, 

 South-eastern Thibet, and the southern islands of Japan. 



Like the true Snipes it is a marsh bird, but, as may be inferred from the length of its 

 secondaries and the shortness of its primaries, its migrations are on a very limited scale. 



The changes of plumage in this species produced by age, sex, and season are somewhat 

 complicated, and have given rise to much confusion. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 



