COMMON SNIPE 75 



ing these specimens, had caused their appearance in our Hmits ; 

 at the same time he recorded the occurrence of a couple 

 of young whoopers, shot out of a flock of seven on the Kabul 

 River. It is very possible that a swan recently recorded as seen 

 near Bharao, though not bagged, may have been of this species, 

 as it is said to have had a small black bill. In any case, there 

 is now^ no doubt about the occurrence of Bewick's swan as an 

 occasional visitor to India, while probably Burma also is within 

 range of its winter wanderings. In fact, as tbis bird has a more 

 eastern range than the whooper, at any rate in the breeding- 

 season, it might be reasonably expected to come in at least as 

 often as that species ; its normal winter quarters in Asia, how- 

 ever, are China and Japan, and in China it seems to be the 

 commonest swan at that season. In the west it ranges in 

 winter as far south as the Mediterranean. 



It has a quite different and less musical note tban the 

 whooper, resembling the syllable "kiik" many times repeated, 

 and sits high on the water. It comes ashore a good deal, and 

 is a better walker than most swans ; it can, moreover, run well. 



Common Snipe. 



Galliuago ccelestis* Chaha, Hindustani. 



The " fantail " snipe, as this species is often called to 

 distinguish it from the next, is the same bird as the common 

 snipe of Europe ; I mention this particularly, because I have 

 heard of sportsmen proposing — and I believe the idea was 

 carried out — to send some Indian-shot snipe home in cold 

 storage to see if they really were the same as the British 

 birds. 



But to many people who have not done much shooting before 

 they come out, the difficulty will be to distinguish a snipe from 

 the many sandpipers or snippets ; such small waders being 

 abundant in India, and often sold- — at any rate they were in 



* scolopacinus on plate. 



