SNIPES AND WOODCOCKS. 
Three species of Aberrant Snipes are left to be dealt with, and two of these 
occur in Australia. The one with twenty-six tail-feathers, stenura Bonaparte, 
which does not occur, is typically gaUinagine in coloration and size, having a 
wing-length between 130-140 mm. 
The second, with twenty tail-feathers, megala Swinhoe, occurs in 
Australia and agrees with the preceding. These both disagree with the 
typical gaUinagine birds in the formation of their tails, and have been classed 
together under the name of PintaUed Snipes ; they both agree in having 
the culmen less than half the wing and less than twice the metatarsus. For 
the former Bonaparte’s genus-name Spilura is available, but on account of the 
great difference in the taU the latter must be considered genericaUy distinct, 
and for 7negala Swinhoe I propose the new genus-name SUBSPILUBA. 
The species G. hardwicJcii Gray is abnormal in its wing-length, its long 
bUl and metatarsus, and its taU. of eighteen feathers. A detailed diagnosis 
has already been given, but it may be pointed out that it is the only typicaUy 
GaUinagine bird with a wing-length of 150-160 mm. ; the culmen is less than 
haU the wing and about equal to twice the metatarsus. These differences 
fuUy merit the generic distinction granted the species. 
PAGO A GEOFF ROY I. 
I AM indebted to Mr. Stuart Baker for the opportunity of describing the eggs 
of Pagoa geoffroyi, hitherto undescribed (see ante, p. 99) : — 
Nest, A depression in the sand and fine shingle, on the borders of a lake. 
Eggs. Clutch, four 1 In shape the egg is oval, very slightly pointed at one end. Ground- 
colour pale stone, heavily marked at the larger end, and sparingly on the 
smaUer, with dark purplish-black and lavender spots ; and about the middle of 
the sheU there are some spots of pale greenish-yellow ; axis 40 mm., diameter 29. 
Breeding-season. June. 
Mr. Baker sends me the following note, with the egg : “ The history of the 
egg is as foUows : A Captain who was, I think, then an officer in Battray’s 
Sikhs, of which Colonel R. H. Rattray was C.O., was shooting in Ladak, 
near the Tso Morari Lake, at an elevation of some 1,400-1,600 ft., when he 
came across this single egg laid in the sand and fine shingle on the borders 
of the lake. He shot the female bird and made a rough skin of it, sending 
both bird and egg to Colonel Rattray, and when the latter’s coUection was 
sold I bought this egg, but the remains of the skin had been destroyed. 
Colonel Rattray, whom I know weU, assured me that there was no doubt about 
the skin, which was for some time in his possession. It was taken on 
2nd June, 1888.” 
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