1 82 ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Nesting of Painted Snipe. — On October 13th. 1917. I was in search of Snipe (Gall in a go australis) 

 about eight miles from my home, in a swamp formed and fed by artesian water, being the terminus 

 of a bore drain from a bore 20 miles east. Here I accidentally discovered the nest of a Painted Snipe 

 [Bhynchaea australis) with a full clutch of four slightly incubated eggs. On the following Saturday, 

 in the same swamp I found four young Painted Snipe nearly able to fly. This was evidence enough 

 that the first nest was not a solitary example, but subsequent searches revealed nothing more for 1917. 



On 19th August, 1918, I visited the swamp again for the sole purpose of finding out more of the 

 breeding and nesting habits of the Painted Snipe. I was fortunate enough this time to find four nests 

 with full clutches (four eggs), one of which was just on hatching, two others about half incubated, and 

 one fresh. 



On August 24th I searched the swamp carefully and found four more nests — two full clutches 

 (fresh) one with two eggs (cold), one nest deserted with one egg. 



On September 7th I made another search, with a companion, and found one nest containing a full 

 clutch of fresh eggs. Three other nests were found, in which the eggs had been broken. One set of 

 three had large holes made in the side, and the contents extracted, the shell being otherwise un- 

 damaged, and one egg in another nest was in the same condition. 



The swamp covers an area of about 20 acres, over most of which the water is only a few inches 

 deep, and the grass is not more than a foot in height. The favoured spots for the nests are where 

 the water lies in basins, and in these basins are scattered mounds of earth, the tops of which are a few 

 inches above water level, not over one foot in diameter, and roundish in shape. On the outside edge 

 a ring of soft grass grows, and in the centre, well concealed, the eggs are laid. Incomplete sets or 

 fresh eggs were practically lying in a slight depression on bare mud, but as incubation increased the 

 nests also increased, till in the one with eggs just on the point of hatching there was quite a substantial 

 padding of soft grass collected from the surrounding grassy sides. The nests averaged 5| inches in 

 diameter. In most cases I flushed both birds from the vicinity of the nest, and when they rose they 

 did not drop again till they were 100 to 200 yards away. Altogether I counted 14 birds on one day ; 

 there may have been a few more. This is an unusually large number to find in one swamp. 



In November or December one can often flush five or six birds close to the same spot, but these 

 are invariably the old pair with the season's young. 



I don't know of any part of central or north-west New South Wales where these beautiful birds 

 are numerous, and the unfortunate thing is that when the Jack Snipe (Gallinago australis) conies in 

 (about August) the Painted Snipe is nesting, both birds frequenting the same locality, and the latter 

 falls to the gun of the sportsman, who, in nine cases out of ten, makes no distinction. In this way 

 many breeding birds are killed each year. 



On 21st September, 1918, I again visited the swamp, but could not flush a single bird ; they had 

 all gone. This may be accounted for by the fact that after the birds started nesting here there was 

 a good fresh down the river, to the nearest point of which it would only be about three miles. Thousands 

 of acres of good snipe lands were flooded, and the birds have probably gone to fresh pasturage. 



Besides Painted Snipe, I one day counted 30 Jack Snipe and saw many other waders, Spurwing 

 Plover, White-necked Stilt, Red-kneed Dotterel (nesting), Black-fronted Dotterel, Sharp-tailed Stint, 

 many Little Crake, and one Greenshank. — F. C. Morse, Coocalla, Garah. N.S.W. 



[In the debate in the Legislative Assembly on the Birds and Animals Protection Bill, the member 

 for Hawkesbury (Mr. Walker) moved that " every species of snipe " be added to the schedule of un- 

 protected birds. He said : Snipe do not breed here, but migrate from Japan and the Islands, as do 

 also Gillbirds. If these birds are included in the schedule, we shall be able to shoot them." Mr. 

 Walker's statement was accurate only as regards the " Jack Snipe " (Gallinago australis). — Ed.] 



