PINTAIL SNIPE 81 



In dry specimens a further difference in the beaks besides 

 that of caHbre is apparent ; in the fantail the more abundant 

 nerve-endings, drying up, give the end of the bill a much more 

 pitted appearance than is seen in that of the other species, 

 whose bill is less sensitive. It is probably on account of the less 

 succulent food it consumes, as Mr. Baker suggests, that the 

 pintail snipe is not quite so good on the table as the fantail, 

 being often rather dryer in flesh. 



Both species are hable to produce light, more or less albin- 

 istic varieties, of a fawn or creamy colour, and, far more rarely, 

 very dark forms, 'of the type known in the common snipe in 

 Europe as " Sabine's Snipe." Only one such dark blackish 

 specimen of each kind has ever been recorded in India, and even 

 the other variation, though commoner than varieties of birds 

 usually are, is so rare that neither Mr. Baker nor Mr. Dods has 

 ever shot one in all their long experience. The pintail is also 

 particularly subject to minor variations in its plumage, the 

 under-surface being often barred all over, while it has not the 

 blank space in the barred wing lining which is noticeable in 

 the fantail snipe. 



Pintail snipe sometimes breed in the country ; more than 

 one set of eggs have been taken in Cachar, and in some years 

 they seem to breed there quite frequently ; the eggs are not 

 certainly distinguishable from those of the common snipe, and 

 the nest is similar. 



The noise made in flight in the breeding season is, however, 

 apparently characteristic, as one would expect from the very 

 different tail-feathers ; according to Prjevalsky, who studied this 

 .snipe in its breeding haunts on the Ussuri, " describing large 

 circles above the spot where the female is sitting, it suddenly 

 dashes downwards with great noise (which is most likely pro- 

 duced by the tail-feathers) like that made by our species and 

 somewhat resembles the noise of a broken rocket." The vocal 

 two-syllabled note, however, is probably much like that of the 

 common snipe. The Yenisei River forms the western limit of 

 the pintail snipe's northern breeding range, which is thus 

 .confined to Eastern Asia, and it winters in the East Indies as 

 well as in India and Burma. 

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