408 
BIKDS OF BRITISH BUE.MAH. 
Genus PSEUDOSCOLOPAX, BL 
749, PSEUDOSCOLOPAX SEMIPALMATUS. 
THE SNIPE-BILLED GODWIT. 
Macrorhamphus semipalmatus, Jerd. Bl. J. A. S. B. xvii. p. 252 ; Jerd. B. Ind. 
ii. p. 679 ; Hume, S. F. vii. p. 484. Pseudoscolopax semipalmatus, Swinh. 
P. Z. S. 1863, p. 313, 1871, p. 407 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 332 ; David et Oust. 
Ois Chine, p. 474, pi. 121 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 112 ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game 
Birds, iii, p. 395, pi, ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 239. 
Description. — Winter plumage. Lores brown; a broad streak over the 
lores white; sides of the head^ chin^ throat fore neck and breast white 
densely marked with short brown streaks ; abdomen and vent white ; under 
tail-coverts white marked with V-shaped brown marks ; sides of the body 
white irregularly barred with brown ; under wing-coverts white ; axillaries 
white with a few irregular short brown bars ; forehead^ crown, nape, hind 
neck, sides of the neck, back, scapulars and tertiaries brown, each feather 
margined with greyish white; upper wing-coverts dark brown broadly 
edged with white ; primary-coverts brown ; primaries brown, the tips 
darker, the shafts white, the outer webs narrowly margined with white ; 
secondaries brown, broadly edged with white and irregularly barred with 
the same ; rump, upper tail-coverts and tail white broadly barred with 
brown. 
In summer, according to Messrs. David and Oustalet, the upper plumage 
is bright rufous, with brown streaks on the nape, lores and hind neck, and 
with large brown spots on the dorsal feathers ; lower plumage more uniform 
rufous, with a little white on the edges of the feathers of the abdomen and 
some irregular brown streaks on the feathers of the flanks and under tail- 
coverts ; wing- coverts, secondaries and tertiaries greyish brown bordered 
with white ; primaries brown with the shafts white ; tail-feathers brown, 
transversely banded with white. 
Bill black, turning to plumbeous at the base ; iris dark brown ; legs and 
toes dark plumbeous ; claws black. 
Length 13*5 inches, tail 2*5 to 2*9, wing 6-8 to 7, tarsus 2*05, bill from 
gape 2*9 to 3'25 The sexes appear to be of very much the same size. 
This species is remarkable for having the general appearance of a God wit 
and the bill of a Snipe, the terminal half of this member being swollen 
and covered with small pits as in the Snipes, and the feet are webbed to a 
considerable extent, 
The Snipe-billed Godwit appears to be a very rare species. I shot two 
specimens in Pe^u oq the 29th of September near Kyeikpadein, and I 
