162 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI. 



that is, if visited in January a bag of 10 to 12 couple is as much as one can 

 make by hard tramping and moderately straight shooting, whereas late in 

 February or first week in March 50 couple or more may, with straight shooting, 

 be got. The latest date I have recorded shooting a snipe is in the Myittha 

 valley on the 12th May 1890, when I obtained 5 having seen perhaps a dozen — 

 much higher up than where Captain Lane found them. 



It would be interesting to know whether the snipe were fan or pintails, I 

 am inclined to the opinion that the very late birds here are nearly always the 

 latter. I observe Oates, in his Manual of the Game Birds of India, notes in 

 Volume II, page 457, that they may very occasionally be met with in June. 

 I have little doubt that in Burma certainly a few may be met with as late 

 as this, and I would go as far as to say that I think there may be a few snipe 

 who spend the year here in different suitable localities. 



I fancy the Upper Ohindwin district is the most likely district in which 

 to find snipe staying very late. 



These late snipe are, in my opinion, from a gastronomic point, not very good, 

 being rather muddy and dry to the taste. 



G. H. EVANS, F L.S., Majok. 



Rangoon, 1627t July 1904. 



No. XIV —THE ANCESTRY OF THE HORSE. 



With reference to the interesting letter, signed R. L., extracted from the 

 Field, on the above subject, which appeared in this Journal, page 70o, Vol. XV., 

 I have been in some doubt as to what are his conclusions on the evidence 

 produced. 



At the time that Equus sivalensis flourished, we must suppose that the Sivaliks 

 were not connected by land with Kattiawar and Peninsular India, or ever had 

 been, while the present home of Equus prejeivalki was probably under the sea. 

 The existing genus Equus is characteristic of (though, of course, not confined to) 

 the desert sub-region of the Palearctic region, i.e., the comparatively narrow long 

 strip of land reaching from Morocco to the frontier of Manchuria. Now, apart 

 from its shape, it is, from the geologically recent origin of this land, hardly 

 credible that a genus so isolated and therefore ancient as Equus could have orig- 

 inated there. 



We must, therefore, suppose that the surviving species retreated therefrom 

 one or other of the surrounding regions before the advance of man and other 

 enemies, being so constituted that they could longest maintain their independ- 

 ence and existence in open steppe-like country. 



The question is from which of the surrounding regions did they retreat. The 

 historical evidence collected by Victor Helm in the " Wanderings of Plants and 

 Animals" goes to show very strongly that the horse was not a European animal , 

 and I think, if we remember, that at the time the Sivalik deposits were forming, 

 the Thibetan plateau was probably a comparatively low-lying upland ; we shall 

 find this latter region the most likely original home of the horse. 



