970 (EDICNEMUS SCOLOPAX. 



and beneath as far as the chin ; legs and feet pale greenish yellow, bluish on the joints and toes. Some individuals 

 have the culmen black up to the forehead, or nearly so, and it remains to be shown whether this is a sign of age 

 or the reverse. 

 Head, upper surface, greater wing-coverts, tertials, and central rectriees ashy brown, palest on the hind neck, tail, and 

 rump, and darkest on the head and scapulars ; the centres of the feathers blackish brown, and the margins 

 rufescent ; coverts above the ulna blackish brown, with brighter rufous margins than elsewhere, the next row 

 barred across the centre with white, and the greater coverts with dee]) terminal margins of white, forming two 

 liars across the wing, between which is a blackish band : quills and tail brownish black ; a bar across both webs of 

 the 1st and 2nd primaries and the inner web of the 3rd, another extending from the 9th to the inner web of the 

 6th, as also the tips of the 7th and 8th, and a subtermiual band across the tail w hite ; basal portion of tail-feathers 

 crossed with light bars : lores, superciliary stripe, cheeks, chin, throat, and under surface white ; a stripe beneath 

 the eye from the anterior corner, another from lower mandible to the ears, and the centres of the feathers on 

 each side of the middle of the fore neck, as also on the chest, blackish brown ; under tad-coverts pale rufous. 



Young in down (Norfolk, coll. Harting). Above greyish buff, the down short and tipped with brown; two narrow 

 well-defined black stripes pass up the back from the rump to the neck and meet on the crown; a narrow stripe 

 runs from the eye and joins those on the nape, and one from the centre of the forehead passes over each eve; a 

 black stripe from the fail along the side of the rump to the wings, and one on the wings ; beneath buffy white, 

 tinged with greyish on fore neck. 



06s. A small series from India which I have examined do not differ materially from Ceylouese birds ; the central 

 stripes of the upper-surface feathers vary in width, and the bill is subject to considerable variation in size. 

 Indian specimens in the British Museum and Mr. Harting's collection measure : — "Wing 8"4 to 9-7 inches; tarsus 

 3 - to 3'4; bill at front 1/6. Mr. Hume remarks that Indian examples average smaller than European, and on 

 this account the race was separated by Salvadori as (E. indicia ; but dimensions vary, as Sindh birds are larger 

 than L pper Indian ones. A fine example of the pale or desert form which this species assumes in arid climates, 

 lately sent to England from the Attrek river, has the upper plumage yellowish sandy ln-uwn, and the central 

 (ail-feathers are sandy mottled with brown; wing 0-0 inches, tarsus 3-0, bill at front 1'4. Two Egyptian 

 examples measure, wing 9-4 to 9-0 inches, tarsus 2'8, bill at front 1-7, and two killed in England, wing 

 9-4 inches; so that Indian specimens attain to quite the size of European and Asiatic. Autumn birds after 

 moulting have the marginal portions of the back-, scapular, and wing-covert feathers a brighter rufescent than 

 they are some months afterwards, when they have become, through time and exposure, of a greyish hue and are 

 often much abraded. </■'. si negalensis, Swains., is a closely allied species, somewhat smaller (wing S-G to 9-0 inches), 

 and has no upper white wing-bar, the lesser and median coverts being brownish grey with black central stripes ; 

 the upper-surface feathers are grey-brown, with narrower central black feathers than in (E. scolopax. There are 

 several other species of this fine genus, one of which, (E. maculosus, Cuv., from South Africa, is very handsomely 

 marked; another, (E. grcdlarius, Lath., from Australia, is remarkable for its large size and lengthened tail, 

 and has been separated as Burhima, Hliger. An example in Mr. Harting's collection measures — win" 

 Ll'75 inches, tail 6-5, tarsus 4-$. The under surface is whitish, and the chest and breast marked withhold 

 stripes of black. 



Distribution. — The " Thicknee," though widely distributed in Ceylon, is by no means a very common 

 or a plentiful species. Layard considered it to be "much more frequent" than the last; but my experience 

 has been the reverse. I conclude, therefore, that it is tolerably abundant in the Jaffna peninsula, in a portion 

 of which, the Pt. Pedro district, lie resided, and near which I have seen it in jungly wastes at Ethelumaduvil, 

 not far from the Elephant Pass. Mr. Holdsworth speaks of it as common at Aripu at all seasons. In the 

 Trincoinahe district it was found in pairs, or two or three together in certain places, and I always noticed it 

 more during the latter end of the year than in the hot weather, when it probably retired to secluded spots 

 to breed. Near Batticaloa it is to be found in the sandy scrubs ; and in the islands in the Lake I have met 

 with it in August, when it appeared to be breeding. In the Hanibantota district it is resident, but on the 

 west coast I have only noticed it during the north-east monsoon. It is then to be found as a straggler in 

 the Morotuwa, Colombo, and Negorubo cinnamon-gardens, which places appear to be its only resort in 

 that part of the island. Mr. Parker has met with it at Puttalam; and it is probably resident there, as no 

 doubt also at Chilaw. It is evidently a dry-climate species, mostly avoiding damp districts, and in Ceylon 

 confining itself to the sea-board. 



