50 GAME-BIEDS OF INDIA 



Wood Snipe breeds at far lower altitudes than 7,000 feet. The nest 

 brought to me was taken near Shillong at 4,000 feet, and in Manipur 

 it is almost certain that they breed at but little over 2,000 feet, 

 whilst it also seems possible that they are permanent residents at the 

 foot of the Himalayas throughout the Dooars. 



General Habits. — As regards these birds' visits to the southern 

 hills these are, no doubt, more or less the result of a migratory 

 movement but as we get to know more about this rare snipe it 

 will probably be found that its migrations are of a very local 

 character and it would not surprise me to find that over the greater 

 portion of its habitat it is a permanent resident. The dates on which 

 specimens of the Wood Snipe have been obtained for me, show that 

 it is not a bird of high elevations alone, and that in some cases it 

 almost certainly breeds well below 2,000 feet. 



From Jalpai I have received a bird shot in May in the swamps at 

 the foot of the Hills ; my father E. B. Baker, shot several specimens 

 in Purnea and Maldah in April and May whilst returning from tiger 

 shoots, and Colonel Wilson records his seeing many of these snipe in 

 May in Manipur at about 2,000 feet elevation. 



It is quite possible that if we knew the haunts of this snipe and 

 if we could visit them at the proper season we should not find it 

 nearly as uncommon as it has been hitherto considered. 



Damant said that he found it common in Manipur and that one 

 morning he killed five, shooting in long grass from the back of an 

 elephant. 



Whymper records: "I have seen Wood Snipe in the Dehra Dun 

 Valley where I have shot them in December and put them up in 

 Tiger beats as late as the 4th April. On one occasion I put up six in 

 very heavy grass jungle of which we dropped three but only picked 

 up one. This was in February." 



Baldwin also came upon a number together when shooting in 

 the Pilibhit District in January, 1872. He writes : — 



" I came across not one, but over a dozen of these birds ; they 

 were close to one another .... we soon put up several Common 

 Snipes, and presently my companion fired at one, and I then saw a 

 large dark bird, which I thought at the time was a Solitary Snipe, 

 rise up with a croak, and, after curving about, drop close by. We 



