PLATE 



FAMILY SCOLOPACID/E. 



THIS is a large and numerous family of marsh birds, including all the Snipes and Woodcocks to be 

 found distributed over the face of the globe. Their nests are primitive structures made by hollowing 

 out slight holes in the ground under tufts of grass or other herbage, where are deposited four eggs. These 

 birds are held in high esteem by sportsmen, both for the game they afford and for the epicurean delicacy 

 they provide to jaded appetites. 



GENUS GALLIN AGO (Leach). 



rT!HE typical member of this genus is the common European species, G. scolopacinus, which has one 

 -L representative in Australia. 



GALLINAGO AUSTRALIS (Lath.). 



NEW HOLLAND SNLPE. GexNus : Gallinago. 



THIS bird is one of the few examples we have of true game, and is prized accordingly by sportsmen 

 who have been trained to field sports by English associations. It is a much larger species than its 

 European representative, weighing from five to six ounces and a quarter, and is an easier shot, for its 

 flight is correspondingly heavier ; and it is less shy, sits closer, and when flushed soon re-alights. Added 

 to these qualities of similarity, the fact that it may be safely looked for wherever there are lagoons, 

 swamps, or even open grassy patches where the ground is soft and likely to produce aquatic insects, and 

 its relation to the English bird becomes close. 



In reference to its migratory instincts J. A. Campbell writes :— 



" It has been proved beyond all doubt that Snipe migrate from the interior of the continent, and 

 arrive simultaneously in Tasmania and the southern parts of Australia by night, about the period of the 

 full moon nearest the end of August or beginning of September. In January they return northward by 



degrees, in time for the wet season in the interior, and for the purpose of breeding there 



It has been proved that Snipe incubate or breed in the interior during the wet season, about April or 

 May. I saw a clutch of three eggs which were taken in the Darling District near Bourke. I am in 

 possession of one of these eggs, which I exhibited at the annual conversazione of the Field Naturalists 

 Club, in April, 1882, and which I subsequently described." 



" The nest of these remarkable eggs was simply the bare earth, slightly hollowed under tufts of 

 grass." [Gould.) 



Captain Stmt informs us that he saw a few of the New Holland Snipe in the interior, but 

 met with great numbers breeding in the Valley of Mypunga, S.A. ; and Gilbert, the able coadjutor of 

 the celebrated naturalist, Gould, mentions having met with the birds about Port Essington. 



