76 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



the Calcutta Bazaar in my time — for the table as snipe, which 

 argues that a good many people do not know what a snipe 

 ought to be. 



The characteristic of the true snipe, fantail or pin-tail, then, 

 is the rich dark, well-mottled plumage, showing brown, black 

 and buff, instead of the more uniform and coldly tinted drabs 

 and whity-browns of the sandpiper tribe. In particular is to be 

 noticed the orange-buff tint at the end of the tail-feathers. The 

 great length of the beak, which is about half as long as the 

 rest of the bird, is also a noticeable point, but as some few 

 sandpipers have very long bills, it may be noticed that in such 

 there is always a small web between the nnddle and outside 

 toes, which is completely wanting in snipe of all kinds. 



There is no difference in colour between male and female 

 snipe, but, on the whole, the hens are bigger than the cocks, 

 the hen's bill sometimes reaching three inches, and her weight 

 five and a half ounces, while a big cock's beak will only be about 

 two inches and three-quarters, and his weight barely over the 

 five ounces ; the average weight of both sexes is given by Hume 

 as 4'2 ounces. 



The vast majority of fantail snipe are winter visitants to 

 India ; they first come in in any number about the end of 

 August, and September is the usual month for the arrival of 

 these birds, while in Southern India and Burma they are later 

 than this. By the end of March most of them have usually 

 left again, but sometimes many stay on till the middle of April, 

 and even up to June stray birds may occur even in the south 

 of India. The Sub-Himalayan tracts are those which tempt 

 most birds to stay late, being well wooded and well watered. 



During their stay fantail snipe are found all over the Empire, 

 though their abundance varies in different localities, generally 

 inversely with that of the pintail ; in the southern and eastern 

 provinces of India and in Burma, for instance, this species is the 

 less common of the two, and often quite scarce, while it is the 

 common species of the north-west part of the countr3\ Snipe 

 in distribution and the dates of it are, of course, somewhat 

 affected by weather ; heavy rains and prolonged cold weather 

 will keep them longer in the north, delaying their spread to the 



