GALLINAGO GALLINULA. 



(THE JACK SNIPE.) 



Scolopax gallinula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 244 (1766) ; Gould, B. of Europe, iv. pi. 322 (1837). 



Gallinago minima (Kay), Sykes, Cat. B. Dukhun, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 163 ; Middendorff, Sibir. 

 Reise, ii. p. 224 (1853). 



Gallinago gallinula (Linn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 272 (1S49) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, 

 Cat. p. 135 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 260 ; Schlegel, Mus. 

 P.-B. Scolopaces, p. 14 (1864) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 676 (1864) ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, 

 p. 393 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 472 ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 249 (1872) ; Von 

 Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. p. 1206 (1873) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 235 ; Irby, B. 

 of Gibraltar, p. 174 (1875); Blanford, Zool. Persia, p. 283 (1S76) ; Butler & Hume, 

 Str. Feath. 1876, p. 15; Fairbank, t.c. p. 263, et 1877, p. 410; Dresser, B. of Eur. 

 pt. 57, 58 (1877); Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.) p. 459; Blakiston & Pryer, 

 Ibis, 1878, p. 222 ; Davidson & Wender, Str. Feath. 1878, vii. p. S8 ; Ball, t. c. p. 228 ; 

 Cripps, t.c. p. 302; Hume (List B. of Ind.), ibid. 1879, p. 112. 



Telmatias gallinula (Linn.), Saunders, Ibis, 1871, p. 389. 



Limnocryptes gallinula (Linn.), Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 407 ; Gould, B. of Gt. Britain, 

 iv. pi. 80 (1873). 



La petite Becassine ou la Sourde, Buffon ; Jack Snipe, Latham ; Judock, Half Snipe, vulg. 

 in England ; Zweig-Sumpschnepfe, Moorschnep>fe, German ; Agachadiza, Agachadera, 

 Spanish (Saunders). Kanisah, Egypt (Von Heuglin) ; Saiga (Favier), Moorish. 



Ailult male am] female. Length 8-5 to 9-G5 inches ; wing 4-1 to 4 - 5 ; tail 1-7 to 2-2 ; tarsus 0-9 to 0-95 ; middle toe 

 0-9 to 1-05 ; bill to gape 1-5 to 1-6. Weight 2\ to 2\ oz. (Welsh examples). 



The above measurements are taken from a series of European, British (Welsh, measured in the flesh), and Asiatic 

 examples, the largest specimen of which latter is from Isfahan, Persia. The following are the dimensions of a 

 Ceylon-killed individual (Jaffna, Jan. 1878): — wing 4*4 inches; tail 2-2 ; tarsus 0-94; middle toe P03 ; bill at 

 front 1*55. 



This species has only 12 tail-feathers, the centre pair of which are pointed and exceed the rest ; the lateral feathers 

 are typical of the genus, curved inwards, and with ri^id shafts. 



Iris dark brown : bill — culmen clear yellow, sides livid brown, base beneath greenish, tips of both mandibles black ; 

 legs and feet greyish green, brownish on the joints ; claws brown. 



The bill becomes much pitted on drying up after death. 



Summer plumac/t (Heligoland). Centre of the head and nape deep black, streaked with rufous, on either side of which 

 is a rich buff stripe leading from the nostril over the eye to the nape, in the middle of which is a narrow black 

 streak just above the eye; face, buff, through the lores a broad brown stripe, and along the cheeks, from the gape, 

 another one leading over the ears round to the nape ; hind neck fulvous brown, lightly marked with black and 

 tipped with whitish ; scapulars long and lanceolate, very widely margined ou one side with rich buff and on the 

 other with deep green, the remainder of the feather black, beautifully variegated with rich rufous and edged 

 with metallic green ; back and rump purple, edged with white ; upper tail-coverts like the scapulars, but the buffi 

 nut so rich and slightly tinged with green ; tail brown, the centre feathers pointed and exceeding the rest, and 

 broadly margined with rufous-buff, the lateral feathers variegated with buff; wings brown, the lesser coverts 

 margined with whitish, the median with rufous- buff; secondaries deeply tipped with whitish; outer webs of 

 tertiaries rufous-buff, barred with black ; outer web of first primary white at the base. ■ 



