Shot in May, near Engineer Cantonment. This species seems to approach very closely to S. cærulea.
Genus Limosa, Cuv.
Limosa scolopacea.—Dusky cinereous; bill, straight; upper mandible a little longer, and very slightly arquated towards the tip; the grooves continue to near the tip, about as long again as the head, yellowish green; tip black, dilated, rugose, with a dorsal groove; palate with reflected, cartilaginous spines; head with a line from the upper mandible, passing over the eye and inferior orbit; white cheeks, chin, throat, and origin of the breast, cinereous; the plumage margined with dull whitish; back beneath the interscapulars, white; rump, plumage white, fasciate with black; tail coverts, and tail white fasciate with black, which latter colour is more abundant; lesser wing coverts margined with whitish; greater wing coverts black, terminal margin white: secondaries black, margin and submargin white; primaries black, interior ones very slightly edged with white; outer shaft white, a little longer than the second; breast and belly white; sides spotted or undulated with blackish cinereous; inferior tail coverts with black abbreviated bands, the white prevailing; feet dirty greenish; toes webbed at base, the exterior one reaching the first joint of outer toe, the interior one very short; hind toe rather long.
| inches. | |
|---|---|
| Length from tip of bill to that of the tail, | 11¾ |
| Length of bill, | 2¾ |
| Length of feet, | 5¾ |
| Length from the knee to the origin of the feathers, | 11⁄10 |
Tail projecting more than one inch beyond the tip of the wing.
Several specimens were shot in a pond near the Bowyer creek. Corresponds with the genus scolopax, Cuv. in having the dorsal grooves at the tip of the upper mandible, and in having this part dilated and rugose; but the eye is not large, nor is it placed far back upon the head; which two latter characters, combined with its more elevated and slender figure, and the circumstance of the thighs being denudated of feathers high above the knee, and the exterior toe being united to the middle toe by a membrane, which extends as far as the first joint, and the toes being also margined, combine to distinguish this species from those of the genus to which the form and characters of its bill would refer it, and approach it more closely to limosa. In one specimen the two exterior primaries on each wing were light brown, but the quills were white. It may perhaps with propriety be considered as the type of a new genus, and under the following characters, be placed between the genera scolopax and limosa.
Bill longer than the head, dilated and rugose at tip: tip slightly curved downwards, and with a dorsal groove: nasal groove elongated; feet long, an extensive naked space above the knee; toes slightly margined, a membrane connecting the basal joints of the exterior toes; first of the primaries rather longest.
Genus Pelidna, Cuv.
1. Pelidna pectoralis.—Bill black, reddish-yellow at base; upper mandible with a few indented punctures near the tip; head above black, plumage margined with ferruginous, a distinct brown line from the eye to the upper mandible; cheeks and neck beneath cinereous very slightly tinged with rufous, and lineate with blackish; orbits and line over the eye white; chin white; neck above dusky, plumage margined with cinereous, scapulars, interscapulars, and wing coverts black, margined with ferruginous, and near the exterior tips with whitish; primaries dusky, slightly edged with whitish, outer quill shaft white; back, (beneath the interscapulars, rump) and tail coverts black, immaculate; tail feathers dusky, margined with white at tip, two intermediate ones longest, acute, attaining the tip of the wings, black, edged with ferruginous: breast, venter, vent and inferior tail coverts white, plumage blackish at base; sides white, the plumage towards the tail slightly lineate with dusky; feet greenish-yellow; toes divided to the base.
| Length nearly | 9 inches. |
| Bill | 11⁄8 inches |