66 THE WOODCOCK AND BRITISH SNIPE IN CEYLON. 



Touching the Common snipe, Layard says " not having 

 " met with it, I am obliged to quote Dr. Kelaart for its 

 " identity; he says ' It is found &c. &c.' I shot many 

 <c snipes at Gilleymally, which proved to be the preceeding 

 «' species * ; but I see no reason why the bird should not 

 " exist in the Island, as it is found at Calcutta, Why 

 <f however in this case" — referring to Kelaart's mention of 

 it at Newera Eliya — " should it be confined to the hills f " 

 Mr. Holdsworth, when in Ceylon, devoted his atten- 

 tion to the identification of these two species, but was. 

 unsuccessful, although he passed much of his time at 

 Kewera Eliya ; but the news of the securing of the wood- 

 cock, which I shall presently refer to, reached him before 

 the completion of his Catalogue of Ceylon Birds, pub- 

 lished last year in the proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society, and he was therefore enabled to speak with 

 certainty as to its occurrence in the island. With regard to 

 the British snipe he remarks, No. 241, Catalogue, Ceylon 

 Birds " of the four reputed Ceylon species G, Stenum apr 

 pears to be the only one which has been positively identified." 



So much for the previous history of these two members 

 of the Scolopacince as regards Ceylon, and though it has 

 taken up some little space in what I would wish to make 

 a short paper, I doubt not, that in a scientific point of 

 view, it cannot but prove of some interest, as shewing the 

 spirit of enquiry displayed by these naturalists as to 

 whether our island should prove to be the most southerly 

 point reached by birds of such wide northern distribution 



Gallinago Stenura, the " Pintail/' 



t And so I would ask too — this remark of Kelaart's leads to the 

 belief that he was mistaken in his identification. 



