JACK SNIPE 
LIMNOCRYPTES GALLINULA 
(Plate XXIV) 
Scolofiax gallinula, Linn., Syst. Nat., i, p. 244 (1766) ; Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 322 
(1837) ; Hewitson, Eggs Brit. Birds, ii, p. 355 (1856) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. Birds, iii, p. 247 
(1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. Birds, pt. xxx (1895). 
Limnocryptes gallinula, Gould, Birds Gt. Brit., iv, pi. 80 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus., xxiY, p. 665(1896); Oates, Man. Game Birds Ind., ii, p. 477 (1899); Pycraft, Bull. 
Brit. Orn. Club, xxix, p. 77 (1912). 
Gallinago gallinula. Dresser, Birds Europe, vii, p. 653 ; pi. 544 (1877) ; Hume & Marshall, 
Game Birds Ind., iii, p. 373 (1880) ; Saunders, ed. Yarrell, Brit. Birds, iii, p. 351 (1883); id. 
III. Man. Brit. Birds, p. 575 (1899). 
Jack Snipe, Shaw in Fur, Feather and Fin Series, Snipe and Woodcock, p. 15 (1904). 
DULT male. — General colour above, black, glossed with green 
and purple and with a few rufous markings on the 
/ back. The long feathers on the sides of the back with 
F the outer webs rich buff, forming a broad longitudinal 
i stripe on either side ; scapulars very similarly marked ; 
•A lower back and rump black, many of the feathers 
narrowly margined with white; wing -coverts and quills mostly brownish- 
black, the coverts margined with pale rufous ; the pointed outer secondary 
quills broadly tipped with white, and the long inner secondaries marked 
with black and buff; the tail, composed of twelve feathers, pointed and 
uniform dusky brown, with pale rufous margins (p.272, fig. 3). Top of 
the head black, mottled with rufous, no pale band down the middle of the 
crown, which is bounded on either side by a well-defined buff superciliary 
stripe extending from the lores to the back of the head, and bordered inter- 
nally with black ; a broad black band extending from the base of the bill 
to the ear-coverts, and a second narrower black band across the cheek; 
remaining portions of the sides of the head white ; back and sides of the 
neck dull rufous, slightly mottled with white and blackish; fore-neck and 
sides of the body pale rufous -brown, spotted and streaked with black; 
rest of the underparts pure white, with a few brown mottlings; under 
wing-coverts and axillaries white, irregularly barred with brown. 
Iris dark brown; bill black at the tip, greenish towards the base, legs 
and toes pale olive -green. 
Total length 7*5 inches; bill from the feathers on the forehead to the 
tip 1*6 inch; wing 4*3 inches; tail 1*8 inch; tarsus 0*8 inch. 
Adult female. — Similar to the male in plumage, but slightly smaller. 
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