488 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1391. 



4. District Officers are requested to report whether there are any fresh 

 places where they would recommend the privilege of capturing birds being sold 

 annuallv, as on the Manchar Lake. The Commissioner does not mean to inter- 

 fere with Eurr . ;an or Native sportsmen who carry guns under the Arms Act, 

 or who lull game with falcons. His object is to maintain the rights of Govern- 

 ment, and bring the capture of game under due control, as well as to protect 

 various valuable and interesting species from wholesale destruction. Birds wear 

 their handsomest plumage in the breeding season, when they are specially 

 sought for by feather-hunters. It is, therefore, very necessary that they should 

 receive adequate protection at that time, as the destruction of the parent birds 

 means the death by starvation of the nestlings, and the rapid diminution of the 

 species. The black partridge is now extinct in many parts of Europe where it 

 once was common, and the Commissioner is informed that in some well-known 

 localities in Sind it has become very scarce. This species needs therefore 

 special protection from bird-snarers. 



5. District Officers should remember also that game-snarers in India very 

 often belong to thieving and wandering tribes, who commit petty depredations 

 and burglaries under pretence of wandering in search of birds. Foreigners and 

 persons found away from their homes with the ostensible purpose of snaring 

 game should, therefore, be watched by the Police, and if unable to give any 

 other account of themselves, should be warned to leave the district or called 

 upon to give security. But care should be taken not to molest Mohanos, and 

 other well known tribes of Sind, who catch birds for food. 



H. E. M. JAMES, 

 Acting Commissioner in Sind. 



No. IV. GEOGEAPHICAL DISTEIBUTION OF THE PIN-TAIL SNIPE. 



Can any one say whether it is a fact, and if so what is the cause, that the 

 farther South in India one goes the greater number of Pin-tail Snipe does one 

 meet with, as compared with Fan-tails ? 



Some years ago when shooting with Mr. Doig on the Null in Guzerat I exa- 

 mined a bag of 30 couple, and found only 2 Pin-tail Snipes. Last month in 

 Guzerat I examined 3 1J couple and found no Pin-tails. The year before last 

 I shot 16 Snipes at Budlapur near Kalian (Bombay) and 8 of them were 

 Pin-tails. Yesterday near Madras I shot 17 Snipes, and there was not a single 

 Fan-tail among them. 



At one time I used to think these variations were due to the ground on 

 which the birds were found, but I now doubt if that is the case. Possibly the 

 Pin-tail Snipe leaves its Summer quarters and starts South before the Fan-tail 



and goes farther. Quien sale ? 



W. St. JOHN EICHAEDSON, 



Captain. 

 Madras, 14th December, 1891. 



