1837.] / New species of Scolopacida, Indian Snipes. 491 



entirely barred: 12^ inches long by 18 between the wings : bill 2§, 

 tail 2\: tarsus If: central toe \\% : hind -j' 3 : weight 7 oz. 



Remarks. This interesting species forms by its size, its manners, 

 and some points of its structure, a link between the genera Scolopax 

 and Gallinago, but deviates from both towards Rhgnchoea, by the 

 feebleness of its soft, bowed and subgradated wings, which have the 

 2nd quill longest. I have set it down in my note book, as the type 

 of a new genus or subgenus, under the style of Nemoricola Nipa- 

 iensis, but I forbear, for the present, from so naming it. Its general 

 structure is that of a snipe, but the bill is a woodcock's, and the legs 

 and feet are larger than in Gallinago. It is shy, non-gregarious, 

 avoids the open cultivated country, and is only found in the haunts of 

 the woodcock, with this difference in its manners, as compared with 

 those of Scolopax, that it is averse from the interior of woods. The 

 wings are usually from f to 1 inch less than the tail, and the prime 

 and tertial quills are equal. The tarsi differ from those of the com- 

 mon snipe in that the scales, posteally, are broken on the mesial line, 

 whereas they are entire in that bird. 



2nd Species, new : Solitaria, nobis. 



Large, pale, luteous-legged snipe, with small legs and feet, and 

 tail consisting of 20 plumes, whereof the 10 laterals are hardened 

 and narrow: 12^ inches long by 20 in expanse: bill 2f : tail 3^: 

 tarsus 1 T | : central toe 1,5 : hind T s g : weight 6% oz. 



Remarks. The general structure of this bird is perfectly typical, 

 (Gallinago), but it has shorter legs and feet than the ordinary snipe, 

 from which it further differs by the division of the tarsal scales, on 

 the posteal aspect. This is a point of affinity with the last, with which 

 our present species agrees very closely \v. manners ; the two conduct- 

 ing one, without a sensible interval, from Scolopax to Gallinago. The 

 trivial name refers to the habits of the species : but the term, in 

 English, is usually applied by our sportsmen to the preceding bird 

 which is found in the Boons and Kaders near the hills, whereas the 

 present species never quits the hills. In our present subject the wing 

 has all the strength and acumination so characteristic of most of its 

 confamiliars. The tail also is firm and of good length. The tail 

 usually exceeds the wings by about half an inch, the tertials being 

 scarcely so long as the primes. 



3rd Species, Biclavus, nobis. 



Common Indian field snipe, with the lining of the wings perfectly 

 barred, and tail of 24 to 28 feathers, of which the 16 to 20 laterals 



