MISCELLANEOUS^ JSUTEH. 149 



top of ji small tree about \'2 feet from the ground. It was a large 

 pangolin and was so tightly coiled round tho tree that a man who climbed 

 the tree could not dislodge it and it was only freed from tho tree after 

 the tree had been cut down. When it rolled itself into a ball it placed 

 tho toes of its hind feet under the scales of its chest and it was very 

 difhcult to straighten it out. It was infested with ticks of the kind one 

 commonly I'nuls on snakes {Apomma r' ). I enclose a photograph* which 

 shows tho strength of the prehensile tail, the whole weight of tho body 

 being supported on the branch from which it hangs by tho extreme tip of 

 the tail (the pangolin and tho binturong Felis binturonf/ both found in 

 Burma are the only mammals of the old world with a prehensile tail.) In 

 the evening I let it go in the jungle to the great disgust of the Burmans 

 who said they could got Rs. 15 for it from any Chinaman. Chinamen use 

 parts of these animals as an aphrodisiac. Burmans have a widespread 

 superstition about this animal that it cries out and calls people by name. 

 If the person called replies he dies at once. I was told bj- a fairly well 

 educated Burman that a Forest Kanger who died suddenly at Fyinmana 

 Forest School sometime ago died because he replied to a scaly pangolin. 

 This superstition is a nuisance as Burmans are very reluctant to reply to 

 shouts in the jungle. I have often noticed this when girdling teak or 

 when belated dak runners are approaching camp after dark. It would be 

 interesting to know whether this animal does cry out and whether its cry 

 at all resembles the human voice ? 



S. F. HOPWOOD, I.F.S., K.P.A. 

 France, 



31s< August 1916. 



No. VI.— LARGE PINTAILED SANDGROUSE (Z^ A. CAUDATA) 



SETTLING ON WATER. 



I have occasionally wondered whether my eyes were deceiving me when 

 I thought I saw Sandgrouse settling on the water to drink. But 1 have now 

 been able to verity this habit, in one species at any rate. A day or two ago 

 a pair of Fterocluius alchata caudata settled in front of me, on the R. Tigris, 

 and about 60 yards from the bank. After slaking their thirst in a leisurely 

 manner, they got up, and flew away. When on the wa'er they floated high, 

 and looked like gulls. 1 do not know whether this habit has been recorded 

 before in the case of Sandgrouse, or not, but mention it for what it is worth. 



Mesopotamia, 

 \2th November 1916. 



H. A. F. MAGRATH, Lt.-Col. 



No. VII.— OCCURRENCE OF THE WOOD-SNIPE {GALLINAGO 

 NEMORICOLA) IN SALSETTE. 



On January 18th I shot a Wood-snipe in the jungle, a few miles from 

 Thana. The locality agreed with that described by Stuart Baker as being 

 the one most favoured by this species {vide article on the Wood-snipe 

 beginning on page 'IlO of Vol. XX of the Journal), that is to say the bird 

 was flushed i ut of thick high grass bordering a long series of small rice 

 helds in a narrow valley in the midst of thick jungle at a height of perhaps 

 100 feet above sea level. The time of day was 11 a.m. The snipe got up 

 without any cry and flew straigVit for a narrow gap in the high grass where 

 he meant to adopt Wood-cock tactics. He flew slowly and floppily and 

 looked strangely big and most strangely dark. I had to take him before 



• Ud fortunately the photograph is too indistinct for reproduction. — Eds. 



