8 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



It has hitherto been considered a generally accepted fact that 

 our Indian Woodcock is a smaller bird than the English, but I cannot 

 endorse this. My reasons are as follows : Everyone who has studied 

 migration knows that young birds are more erratic in their travels, 

 travel greater distances and to much more unusual districts and 

 countries than the older birds. Now certainly all those Woodcock 

 obtained in the plains and lower hills of India and possibly all which 

 are shot south of the Himalayas are birds which are on migration for 

 the cold weather, and those which travel furthest and are most often 

 shot are the young birds of the year ; hence, because the birds we 

 slioot are smaller than the average English bird we have come to 

 believe, that the whole race is smaller. This idea is not, however, 

 borne out by my researches, which have shown me that fully adult 

 Indian birds are as big as European specimens. Thus I have had 

 two female Woodcocks sent me {sliot off the nests) which measured 

 in wing 8"30 inches, whereas my largest bird shot on migration is 

 well under 8'0 inches. 



Hume says that he thinks the Indian bird is smaller than the 

 English but discounts the value of his opinion by what he says later 

 on, when, in talking of the triangular emarginations on the primary 

 quills of the wing, he writes, " Yarrell says: 'These marks are 

 indications of youth,' " and then Hume adds : " It is a curious thing 

 that out of twenty-seven Indian-killed specimens now before me, 

 these triangular marks are present in every specimen ; only in two or 

 three have they disappeared from the basal half of the feather. Our 

 museum does not contain a single Indian-killed specimen with the 

 whole of the outer web of the first quill entirely plain." From 

 Hume's own words, therefore, we assume that his opinion was formed 

 on a series of immature birds, although his deductions are somewhat 

 upset by Ogilvie-Grant's recent discoveries. 



The only way the question can be determined is by the measure- 

 ment of adult birds in their breeding haunts either during or just 

 prior to the breeding season. Here again the sportsman and field 

 naturalist must come to the fore and assist the scientific man who 

 works in the museum. 



In regard to the weight there is no doubt that the majority of 

 birds shot in India are lighter than those shot in England, but the 



