970 
(EDICNEMUS SCOLOPAX. 
and beneath as far as the chin ; legs and feet pale greenish yellow, bluish on the joints and toes. Some individuals 
have the culmen black up to the forehead, or nearly so, and it remains to be shown whether this is a sign of age 
or the reverse. 
Head, upper surface, greater wing-coverts, tertials, and central rectrices ashy brown, palest on the hind neck, tail, and 
rump, and darkest ou the head and scapulars ; the centres of the feathers blackish brown, and the margins 
rufescent ; coverts above the ulna blackish brown, with brighter rufous margins than elsewhere, the next row 
barred across the centre with white, and the greater coverts with deep terminal margins of white, forming two 
bars across the wing, between which is a blackish band ; quills and tail brownish black ; a bar across both webs of 
the 1st and 2nd primaries and the inner web of the 3rd, another extending from the 9th to the inner web of the 
(ith, as also the tips of the 7th and 8th, and a subterminal band across the tail white ; basal portion of tail-feathers 
crossed with light bars ; lores, superciliary stripe, cheeks, chin, throat, and under surface white ; a stripe beneath 
the eye from the anterior corner, another from lower mandible to the ears, and the centres of the feathers on 
each side of the middle of the fore neck, as also on the chest, blackish brown ; under tail-coverts pale rufous. 
Young in down (Norfolk, coll. Harting). Above greyish buff, the down short and tipped with brown ; two narrow 
well-defined black stripes pass up the back from the rump to the neck and meet on the crown ; a narrow stripe 
runs from the eye and joins those on the nape, and one from the centre of the forehead passes over each eye ; a 
black stripe from the tail along the side of the rump to the wings, and one on the wings ; beneath huffy white, 
tinged with greyish on fore neck. 
Obs. A small series from India which I have examined do not differ materially from Ceylouese birds ; the central 
stripes of the upper-surface feathers vary in width, and the bill is subject to considerable variation in size. 
Indian specimens in the British Museum and Mr. Harting’s collection measure : — Wing 8 - 4 to 9-7 inches ; tarsus 
3-0 to 3-4; bill at front 1-6. Mr. Hume remarks that Indian examples average smaller than European, and on 
this account the race was separated by Salvadori as CE. indicia; but dimensions vary, as Sindh birds are larger 
than Upper Indian ones. A fine example of the pale or desert form which this species assumes in arid climates, 
lately sent to England from the Attrek river, lias the upper plumage yellowish sandy brown, and the central 
tail-feathers are sandy mottled with brown ; wing 9'0 inches, tarsus AO, bill at front 1'4. Two Egyptian 
examples measure, wing 9’4 to 9-6 inches, tarsus 2 - 8, bill at front 1'7, and two killed in England, wing 
9-4 inches; so that Indian specimens attain to quite the size of European and Asiatic. Autumn birds after 
moulting have the marginal portions of the back-, scapular, and wing-covert feathers a brighter rufescent than 
they are some months afterwards, when they have become, through time and exposure, of a greyish hue and are 
often much abraded. CE. senegalensis, Swains., is a closely allied species, somewhat smaller (wing 8-G to 9'0 inches), 
and has no upper white wing-bar, the lesser and median coverts being brownish grey with black central stripes ; 
the upper-surface feathers are grey-brown, with narrower central black feathers than in (E. scotopax. There are 
several other species of this fine genus, one of which, CE. maculosus, Cuv., from South Africa, is very handsomely 
marked ; another, CE. grallarius, Lath., from Australia, is remarkable for its large size and lengthened tail, 
and has been separated as Burhinus, Hliger. An example in Mr. Harting’s collection measures — wing 
ll’i 5 inches, tail G-5, tarsus 4-8. The under surface is whitish, and the chest and breast marked with bold 
stripes of black. 
Distribution. — The “ Tliicknee,” though widely distributed in Ceylon, is by no means a very common 
or a plentiful species. Layard considered it to be “ much more frequent ” than the last ; but my experience 
lias been the reverse. I conclude, therefore, that it is tolerably abundant in the Jaffna peninsula, in a portion 
of which, the Pt. Pedro district, he resided, and near which I have seen it in jungly wastes at Ethelumaduvil, 
not far from the Elephant Pass. Mr. Holdsworth speaks of it as common at Aripu at all seasons. In the 
Trineomalie district it was found in pairs, or two or three together in certain places, and I always noticed it 
more during the latter end of the year than in the hot weather, when it probably retired to secluded spots 
to breed. Near Batticaloa it is to he found in the sandy scrubs ; and in the islands iu the Lake I have met 
with it in August, when it appeared to be breeding. In the Hambantota district it is resident, but on the 
west coast I have only noticed it during the north-east monsoon. It is then to be found as a straggler in 
the Morotuwa, Colombo, and Negombo cinnamon-gardens, which places appear to be its only resort in 
that part of the island. Mr. Parker has met with it at Puttalam ; and it is probably resident there, as no 
doubt also at Chilaw. It is evidently a dry-climate species, mostly avoiding damp districts, and in Ceylon 
confining itself to the sea-board. 
