ROSTRATULA CAPENSIS 131 



took to their wings ; and here, too, they showed how closely the 

 Painted Snipe is like the rails. Both birds fly in exactly the 

 same manner, though the larger wings of the Painter flap more 

 slowly and laboriously. In starting, both rail and Painted Snipe 

 drag their legs as if it were an effort to lift them up ; and for 

 some yards after they get under way the legs hang, and then 

 with an effort are pulled up and tucked away in proper position 

 under the tail. 



This bird, as a rule, haunts swamps, old water- courses, and even 

 ravines and banks of running rivers where there is ample cover. 

 A long day's shoot in rice-fields is not likely to produce a single 

 bird ; though where there are adjacent marshes with thick vegeta- 

 tion, these may contain them in numbers. Even, however, in the 

 larger stretches of water frequented by them, they seem to haunt 

 special patches more than others, apparently preferring those which 

 combine pools of water of some depth with plenty of soft, muddy 

 land covered with a tangle of vegetation. 



Such patches as these they are very loth to leave ; they refuse 

 to rise unless closely pressed, and soon return after the cause of their 

 disturbance has gone. Even when shot at and missed, they may 

 often be found again in exactly the same place within a very few 

 hours, and this may occur several times before they are induced 

 to quit. 



A curious exception to this predilection for thick cover came 

 under my experience in Cachar, where both Mr. H. A. Hole and 

 I found these birds in July and August very numerous in recently- 

 ploughed fields. Painted Snipe are very common in Cachar, and 

 especially so in the many bheels which run along the foot of the 

 North Cachar Hills. The ploughed fields where we found the birds 

 were small in area, and consisted of the narrow strips of level ground 

 which ran up into the foot-hills themselves, whilst the other ends 

 terminated in swamp or jungle. The fields had in these months no 

 crops yet growing on them, and though often surrounded with jungle 

 were quite bare themselves except for the small amount of vegeta- 

 tion growing in the boundary ditches. Nor were these fields muddy 

 and moist, except after heavy rain, though there was generally water 

 in the ditches ; yet the birds appeared not only to live and to feed 



