392 Capt. Beavan on various Indian Birds, 



of this species occurring so far to the south as the Tenasserim 

 provinces of Burmah. I myself saw them appear regularly 

 every evening at Rinchingpoong, in Sikkim, in November 1860, 

 and shot one or two, but could not find where they fell, in the 

 darkness. The late Major James Sherwill was with me at the 

 time, and also saw them. 



869. Gallinago solitaria. Himalayan Solitary Snipe. 

 Dr. Jerdon says of this species that " no details of its peculiar 



haunts are recorded ;" but he seems to have overlooked a paper 

 by Mr. Hodgson, which will be found in the ' Gleanings in 

 Science,' published in Calcutta (vol. iii. p. 238). I procured 

 this species in Sikkim in October 1860, and sent Dr. Jerdon 

 my two specimens in the flesh. I found them at the village of 

 Seriong, on the further side of the Rummam River from Darjee- 

 ling, on the side of a hill, in a small open swamp, surrounded 

 on all sides by dense cover, and recollect shooting them per- 

 fectly well, as the spring which caused the swamp yielded the 

 first watercress of the common English species that I had 

 met with, and I can well recall my delight at having made this 

 double discovery the same morning. 



870. Gallinago stenura. Pin-tailed Snipe. 



In a paper elsewhere published (P. Z. S. 1865, pp. 692-695) 

 I have given some particulars of the occurrence of this Snipe 

 about Barrackpore, where it is very plentiful, more so than the 

 next species, arriving in September, and being replaced by that 

 about the end of October or beginning of November. In 1864 

 I killed my first Pin-tailed Snipe, on the 27th September, which 

 is rather a late average date; but this species appears to have 

 been replaced almost entirely by the next by the 17th November. 

 A fine specimen, killed by me at Ambekanuggur, in Maun- 

 bhoom, was larger than stated by Dr. Jerdon. Its length was 

 13"5 in. from the tip of the bill to the end of the middle toe. 

 The bill was 2*75 in., and its weight was over four ounces. 



In Moulmein I found that Snipe appeared very much earlier 

 than in Lower Bengal ; and on 22nd August, 1865, I note that 

 "an officer of the 9th Madras Native Infantry went out to-day 

 and killed seven or eight couple, which I did not get an oppor- 



