GALLINAGO STENURA 91 



it is in wing and bill measurements. It must also be noted that 

 Mr. Val Weston has remarked that the colour of these birds' legs is 

 a far clearer brighter yellow than is the case with ordinary Pintail. 

 Distribution. — There is not much to add to Blanford's note on the 

 distribution of this species, which is as follows: — • 



" The Pintail Snipe liroods, as far as is known, in Eastern Siberia 

 as far west as the Yenesei Valley, and migrates in winter to South- 

 Eastern Asia and tlie Malayan Archipelago. It is very rare in the 

 Punjab, Sind and the North -Western provinces, Eajputana and 

 Gujrat ; but increases in numbers to the southward and eastward, 

 and is found throughout the Peninsula in winter, predominating in 

 Mysore and Southern India, whilst in the high land of Deccan, in 

 Bombay and the Central Provinces and even somewhat further south, 

 the Common Snipe is more abundant, and whilst in Orissa and Bengal 

 the two species are on the whole equally distributed everywhere, 

 further east, in Assam, Sylbet, Cacbar and throughout Burmah, 

 G. steniira is the snipe of the country." 



In Ceylon it should be noted that whilst the Fantail is com- 

 paratively rare, the Pintail is extremely plentiful. 



An interesting note sent me by Mr. T. M. Saunders on snipe 

 shooting in Burmah is interesting on account of the fact that it 

 contradicts so many accepted things :— 



" I first began to note roughly the proportions of Pintail to Fantail 

 Snipe when I was in Burmah shooting at and in the vicinity of Man- 

 dalay. In my shooting diary there are frequently notes such as ' | 

 Fantail,' ' over i Fantails,' etc., and taking the average wherever 

 these notes occur, it works out at roughly two Fantails to each 

 Pintail. These figures, though very rough, are fairly accurate, as the 

 proportions were very constant, and in no case is there a note to the 

 effect that the number of Fantails was below that of the Pintails. 



" The ground worked over was mainly paddy-fields, but there was 

 also much grass land, flooded areas, jheels, edges of creeks, canals, etc." 



It must be remembered that Blanford gives the Indian distri- 

 bution in its widest sense. Throughout the Eastern portion of its 

 Indian range the number of Pintail compared with Fantail varies 

 very greatly in accordance with seasons, and sportsmen have to be 

 very careful how they form their opinions on this subject. 



The Pintail, without doubt, enters India via the Eastern Hima- 

 layas, comparatively few coming through them even as far west as 

 Nepal. The Fantail, on the other hand, though migrating principally 



