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189 



Dr. Sharpe (in the 'Brit. Mus. Cat.') treats G. pusilla as a sub-species of G. auck- 

 landica, adding these remarks : " This is the smallest of the Antipodean Snipes and is 

 distinguished by its smaller bill and whiter body. It apparently does not occur anywhere but 

 in the Chatham Islands." In his subsequently published ' Handlist,' however, he accords this 

 Snipe full specific rank. 



The same writer thus describes a nestling of this species (I.e., xxiv., p. 664) : — 



Nearly uniform rufous brown, with a little dusky mottling, and a dusky line along the centre of the crown; 

 the throat rufous brown ; the rest of the under surface of the body somewhat paler; the sides of the face and 

 region of the eye dull silvery grey. 



Dr. Forbes (' Ibis,' 1893, p. 529) has described the egg of this Snipe, of which two examples 

 are figured. He says : " In shape they are ovoid ; in dimensions — 1*5 + 1'12, 1*67 + 1*15, 1*5 + 1*1, 

 1*67 + 112. The ground colour varies from a dark pinkish to a dark ochraceous buff, covered with 

 dark seal-brown spots and smudges, more thickly crowded round its widest circumference. Some 

 specimens have pale lavender-grey blotches and spots round that region, which are more sparsely 

 distributed over the rest of the egg. The smaller end is nearly free from spots." 



In the same number of the ' Ibis,' Dr. Forbes gives an excellent figure of the nestling (pi. xv.). 

 It is a comfortable-looking little creature, with a big head and very round body, which has 

 a covering of buff-brown down, varied and freckled, especially on the upper surface, with blackish- 

 brown. 



Oedee CHAEADEIIFOEMES.] 



Family CHAEADEIIDiE. 



GALLINAGO HUEGEL1. 



(THE SNAEES SNIPE.) 



Gallinago huegeli, Tristram, Ibis, 1893, p. 447. 



Dk. Foebes, in his 'Bulletin,' treats this as a sub-species of Gallinago aucMandica, and G. pusilla 

 likewise ; but Dr. Sharpe now accords all three of them full specific rank in his ' Handlist ' ; and as 

 to G. pusilla I feel sure that he is right, for the birds are very local and are easily distinguished. 

 The differences are constant, and are appreciable at a glance. The Liverpool Museum contains 

 six specimens of my Gallinago pusilla ; but there is, I believe, as already stated, a series of 

 from forty-five to fifty in Mr. Eothschild's Collection at Tring, all of them having been pro- 

 cured at the Chatham Islands. 



