1831 .] 
On some of the Scolopacidce of Nepal. 
241 
them has, however, so far as I know, (nor was any entitled so to do,) published an 
account of it : and, therefore, whilst I claim, at all events, the discovery of it 
I may proceed to the description of its size, manners, and appearance, as to that 
of a probably still, new bird. I propose to call it, for reasons which will soon 
be apparent, the woodcock-snipe, or scolopacious snipe : but if that name seem 
cacophonous, or improper, I would then suggest that this species should be called 
theNipalese snipe — it being, as far as I yet know, peculiar to the eastern half of 
these mountains, or in other words, to the Nipalese dominions. 
It is, I believe, entirely a bird of passage, coming and departing at the same 
time with the woodcock and snipe, last described— to which latter it is, nearly 
as may be, equal in size : for, though its dimensions of extent are, usually, not 
quite so great as those of the solitary snipe, owing to its more dumpy figure, and 
shorter bill and wings — its weight is equal or greater. Its spring moult is not 
completed till the middle of May, when it has paired, and is on the eve of 
departure — assuming, that is, its migratoriness j which, however, as in the case 
of the woodcock, cannot he proved. The latest excursion in which this species 
was procured, was the 11th of May. Three couples were killed. They had 
paired : and their moult was well nigh completed ( 5 ). 
The full grown bird measures 12* inches ; and its weight, varying with its con- 
dition, is from 5£ to 6£ oz. and upwards. It is rare, and solitary, as the last; 
and in its manners makes a still nearer approach to the woodcock than that bird 
docs : for its flights are short, and unwilling ; and if alarmed it will quit its 
usual haunts upon the confines of woods — ?iot, for the neighbouring bare hill- 
tops ; nor, for some new congenial site at a remote distance, like the solitary 
snipe — but, for the adjacent thick cover ; into which it will, when much annoyed, 
unhesitatingly enter as though it were a woodcock. 
Io its dumpy figure, and comparatively short bill, considerably thickened at 
the base, and thence pretty uniformly attenuated, it resembles the woodcock, just 
88 51 differs from the snipe. Its tail is shorter than that of the preceding, and 
has 16 to 18 (very rarely 20) feathers, with the laterals narrow and hard, but 
less decidedly so than in the solitary or common snipe. Its tail, therefore, agrees 
in general character with that of the genus Gallinago. So, likewise, do its legs and 
f eet, which have the tarsi and toes fully as long as in the common snipe— and the 
tibix are even more denuded. The toes are cleft to their origin : the hind nail, 
' 0n g and entire. But it is to the wings of this bird that we must look for the 
distinctive mark of the species ; in as much as, being entirely devoid of the long, 
hard, and acuminated character of the great quills of both woodcock’s and snipe s 
w 'ngs, and, indeed, of those of most of the Scolopacidce, they are peculiarly diag- 
nostic. The wings are, for a bird of this family, decidedly short— they are, be- 
sides, rounded, soft, full, and bowed in or concave. The 2nd quill is equal or 
5 J have this season taken particular pains to determine the migratoriness, or 
otherwise, of this species and of the preceding one: the result has been to satisfy 
m y s elf that both are so, but only by compulsion: foi they stay with us till the last 
foment, heedless of the heat, and only driven out by the multitudes of leaches infest- 
n k r l heir haunts after the rains have set in. 
% shikaris , or sportsmen, who continued making the round of all the places 
Rented by these birds, till not one was to be seen in any of them, last saw the 
■M'tary snipe 0Q the 25th May, and the scolopacious species on the 8th June.— 
Jul y> 1831. 
