GALLINAGO 63 



Bengal, Bombay and the north of the Central Provinces, but it is 

 not found in any numbers until the middle of that month, and it 

 does not usually appear in Madras and Travancore until the end 

 of September, and more often still not until the middle of 

 October. Major E. O'Brien records seeing snipe at Palander on the 

 27th September (1917), and seems to consider that date exceptionally 

 early, and writing from Coorg, Major J. C. Macrae informs me that 

 the first snipe shot in 1908 was on the 14th September, and in 1909 

 on the 18th September. Gates long ago wrote " the Fantail does 

 not appear" [in Burmah] "until the cold weather is well in, say, 

 December," but I have records now of birds shot in Southern 

 Barmah as early as September 25th. 



On the other hand Colonel G. H. Evans writes that " the usual 

 snipe season in Lower Burmah is from, say, the 20th August till 

 end of October or early November " ..." in Upper Burmah 

 the season is from November until end of February, but . . . 

 I have seen enough snipe at the end of April to afford a good day's 

 shooting," and later he says that he has frequently seen odd birds 

 as late as the middle of May. 



Again Mr. E. 0. Bloech gives the 13th August as the average 

 date of arrival of snipe in the neighbourhood of Eangoon, but does 

 not say whether his notes refer to Pintails or Fantails. 



In Eastern Assam sportsmen generally try for snipe on the 

 4th August, and this is the earliest date upon which I know of a 

 Fantail having been killed, but after this there is a long gap, and 

 the next earliest was shot on the 26th August. Mr. L. W. Middleton 

 shot a few Fantail in 1909 at Gauhati on the 5th September; at 

 Chittagong a few are annually shot before the end of August, but 

 all that I have seen shot there in this month were Pintail, and the 

 Fantail must be a vara avis before September. In Bengal one ho2Jcs 

 for Snipe on the 1st September, but does not always get them even 

 at a latitude as northern as Calcutta, and many a hot and weary 

 trudge have I had on the first two or three days of September with- 

 out a chance of firing a shot. In Southern and Central Bengal there 

 are but few birds in before the middle of the month. 



Eeid says that "the Common Snipe begins to make its appearance 

 towards the end of September," near Lucknow. 



