HIMALAYAN SOLITARY SNIPE. 141 



wing 5f ; tail 2^ ; bill at front 2§ ; tarsus If; middle toe ljg. 

 Average weight 5| to 7 oz. 



This solitary Snipe or Wood Snipe is found in the Himalayas, 

 the Neilgherries, Coorg, and occasionally in Wynaad and other 

 elevated regions of Southern India and Ceylon ; it is also said 

 to occur in considerable numbers in the Saharunpoor district, below 

 Hurdwar, and generally in the extensive swamps at the foot of 

 the Himalayas. It frequents the edges of woods near swamps, 

 and patches of brushwood in swampy ground. It is by no means 

 either common or abundant any where, and on the Neilgherries, 

 but few couples are shot in general in one season. It flies heavily, 

 and having a large expanse of wing, is not unfrequently taken for 

 a Wood-cock. One from the Neilgherries is recorded in the 

 Bengal Sporting Magazine for 1833 as having weighed 13£ oz. 

 Was it not a Wood-cock ? 



2nd. Of large or moderate size ; the tail with from 20 to 28 

 feathers ; the laterals (five to ten on each side) highly attenuated 

 and stiff; in some cases increasing gradually in width. Legs and 

 feet slightly smaller. Gen. Spilura, Bonap. 



44. Gallinago solitaria, Hodgson. 



J. A. S. VI. 491.— Blyth, Cat. 1607. 



The Himalayan Solitary Snipe. 

 Descr. — Head above brown, with pale mesial and superciliary 

 lines ; a dark band from the base of the bill gradually lost in the 

 ear-coverts ; upper plumage much as in the common Snipe, but 

 the whole of the feathers more spotted and barred with rufous ; 

 a conspicuous pale buff stripe along the scapulars and inner edge 

 of the wing ; primaries brown, with a narrow pale edging exter- 

 nally, and the innermost tipped with white ; secondaries and 

 tertiaries broadly barred with dark brown and pale rufous ; tail 

 deep black at the base with a broad subterminal band of bright 

 ashy-rufous, tipped brown, and the extreme tip pale ; outermost 

 rectrices finely barred ; breast olive-brown with white dashes, or 

 white and brown bars, passing into white on the abdomen and 

 vent, with some olivaceous bands on the upper belly and flanks, and 

 the sides of the vent and under-tail-coverts whitish. 



