RHYNCHiEA. 351 



and the cavity, which had no lining, was a good inch in depth. It 

 contained two quite fresh eggs. 



A nest of this species, sent me by Mr. A. J. Eainey, is a large 

 circular pad of mingled coarse and fine rice-straw, some 6 inches 

 in diameter and about 1'75 in thickness, and with a central 

 depression perhaps | inch in depth. It vsas taken on the 22nd 

 September 1871 at Khalispoor, about 1| mile from Kboolna in 

 Jessore, on rather wet ground in a bare field from which a crop of 

 rice had been reaped about a month before. This year (1874) Mr. 

 Eainey took two eggs (which he very kindly sent me) from a 

 similarly situated and very similar nest, on the 30th September at 

 Khoolna, and this time correctly identified the parents. 



Colonel Gr. F. L. Marshall took the eggs, of which I still have 

 two, in the Sabarunpoor District, but could not at the time ascertain 

 what bird they belonged to. Captain Sheppard obtained a nest 

 with four eggs in September in Eaipoor. 



Major M. Forbes Coussmaker, writing from Chararajnugger (35 

 miles south-east of Mysore and 40 miles north of the Nilgiris), 

 informs me that he has satisfied himself that this species breeds in 

 his neighbourhood during December. 



Dr. Jerdon states that " the Painted Snipe is a permanent 

 resident in some parts of India, breeding in June and July in 

 thick marshy ground, and laying four eggs, which are greenish, 

 with large brown blotches, and very large for the size of the 

 bird." 



Mr. Scrope Doig found nests of this Snipe in the Eastern Narra 

 in May, June, and July; and Colonel Butler found many at Milana 

 near Deesa in August and September. 



Colonel Legge, writing from Ceylon, says of the Painted Snipe : — 

 " This species, which is resident in this island (although I have 

 no doubt its numbers are very much increased in the cool season), 

 appears to breed at all times of the year. 



" To commence with the evidence of our pioneer, Layard says : — - 

 ' The season of incubation is from May to July.' That it breeds 

 at or about this season is, I know from personal observation and 

 inquiry, quite correct. The late Mr. Advocate Lorenz (a much 

 lamented member of the Ceylon bar), who tools a great interest in 

 birds, wrote me shortly before his death that he had once found a 

 nest with young in the month of April in the Western Province. 

 It was situated in the grass of a bank between two paddy-fields. 

 Again, a friend of mine observed a pair of old birds in company 

 with two young near a tank in the south of Ceylon. This was in 

 May 1872. On his giving chase, the chicks took to the water and 

 swam like ducklings. In the beginning of September last year, I 

 had several youug brought to me from Wackweell, near Galle, a 

 locality where I have found them more abundant than anywhere 

 else in Ceylon. These data corroborate Layard's statement, but 

 they testify at the same time to a wider period, commencing a month 

 earlier and ending a month later. With regard to the cool season, 

 I am aware of eggs having been taken perfect from birds in 



