EOSTEATULA. 



183 



No median pale hand on the crown, 



191. Gallinago gallinula. The Jack Snipe. 

 Gall%TiMa = & chicken ; diminutiye of gallina=a, hen. 

 Chota bharka, Nepal; Oolan, Madras; Tibud, Batnagiri. 



$ 7f" to 9"; 1^ to 2J oz. $ 8i". Legs green-grey. BiU 1 J" to If", blackish. 

 Back black, glossed green. Two yellow bands from shoulder to tail. Four notches 

 on posterior margin of breast-bone. Tail of twelve feathers of uniform width, 

 dark brown, bordered buff. Eemiges twenty-four. AxiUaiies white. Flight 

 straight and rapid, beginning in silence, with a few zigzags. Formerly considered 

 as the male of O. coelestis. Occur in Asia Minor, Palestine, N. Africa, Mediter- 

 ranean, and Europe, excluding Atlantic isles, Faroes, and Iceland. A winter 

 visitant to India, summering and breeding north of 60° N. lat. to far within 

 Arctic circle. Four eggs (1-5 x 1-1), olive, spotted red-brown, remarkable for their 

 large size, each weighing more than \\ oz., while the bird itself weighs but 

 2J oz. (J. 872. B. 1487. H. & M. iii. 373.) 



Genus ROSTRATULA. 



An aberrant form of Scolopacirue. Tibia much denuded. BiU curved slightly 

 down at tip, and not pitted. Tail of fourteen to sixteen feathers. First and 

 second quills subequal and longest. Sexes differ. Non-migratory. Ethiopian, 

 Indian, Australian, and S. Neotropical regions. 



192. Bostratula capensis. The Fainted Snife. 



Ohari, Nepal; Kone, Singbhoom; Tibud, Eatnagiri; Mail-ulan, Madras; Baggerjee, 

 Lower Bengal. 



<? 9i" to 10"; ^ to 5 oz. ? 9|" to 11"; 4J to ^ oz. Legs green. EUl If, 

 red-brown. Throat white. Above olive-brown, with narrow white bars broadly 

 fringed dark green. Line on head and one from eye to nape buff. Quills blue- 

 grey, with fine wavy black lines, and with oval buff spots on outer webs. Tail 

 of fourteen feathers blue-grey, with black bars. — Female : Darker face. Neck 

 chestnut. A tuft of white lanceolate feathers beneath the scapulars. E. and 

 C. Africa, Egypt, India, Ceylon, China, and Japan, extending to Sumatra, Java, 

 Borneo, and Philippines. Swims well. Four eggs (1-39 x 1-0), drab, irregularly 

 blotched brown. Nest found in Calcutta on 7.8.88. Three young just hatched. 



