SPORT IN WESTERN CHINA 133 



cotton and the margins of fields of maize and millet. In short, 

 this bird favours cultivated crop-clad areas which the Winter 

 Snipe, on the contrary, avoids. The Pin-tailed is readily 

 recognized by its tail, which normally consists of 26 feathers ; 

 the 10 central feathers are ordinary in appearance, and these 

 are flanked on either side by 8 short, narrow, stiff feathers, 

 from the presence of which the bird derives its name. The 

 plumage generally is slightly darker and the bird rather stouter 

 built than the Winter Snipe, though the scales show very little 

 difference between them. 



Around Ichang " Swinhoe's " or the " Greater Spring 

 Snipe " {G. megala) is about as numerous in season as the 

 Pin-tailed. It frequents the same haunts and arrives and 

 leaves about the same time. In 1907 our first bird of the 

 spring migration was shot on 27th March ; of the autumn 

 migration on 26th August. These dates indicate pretty closely 

 its earliest arrival in the two seasons. 



Swinhoe's Snipe is much the largest and finest flavoured of 

 the three common snipe. Its flight is slower, and it is easily 

 recognized by its size, rather shorter bill, and normally 20 

 tail-feathers, of which the central 8 are ordinary with 6 narrow, 

 stiff feathers of nearly equal length on each side. The colour 

 of the plumage is similar to that of the Pin-tailed ; length, 

 II to 12 inches ; weight, 6 to 8 ounces. When in good condition 

 no finer table bird exists than Swinhoe's Snipe. I never met 

 with this bird in western Szechuan. 



The Solitary Snipe [G. soUtaria) is to be met with on 

 rare occasions throughout central and Western China. It is 

 essentially a mountain bird, being partial to long grass and 

 thin shrubberies bordering the sides of mountain streams. 

 In the winter of 1 900-1 I shot one bird immediately behind 

 the town of Ichang, but this is the only one I have seen in the 

 immediate vicinity of the Yangtsze River. On the mountains 

 several days' journey south of Ichang at 4000 feet altitude, 

 and again at 6000 feet altitude, I have shot solitary specimens ; 

 also in north-western Hupeh at 5500 feet altitude I have 

 secured this bird. In western Szechuan, around Wa shan, 

 5600 feet altitude, and around Mao Chou, at 5000 to 6000 feet 

 altitude, I have been fortunate enough to shoot this bird. 



