130 WITH BOAT AND GUN IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



autumn migrations. Birds from the South begin to arrive in the Yangtze valley in March 

 and are most abundant in April when the pin-tailed and Swinhoe's snipes put in their 

 annual appearance. The winter bird is rather earlier both in arriving and leaving than 

 either of the two other species; by the end of April or a few days later both those 

 which have wintered with us and those which have come up from the South have passed 

 northwards to breed and do not return till the autumn. 



Winter snipes are generally found in wet marshes, by sides of streams and ditches 

 and in paddy-fields and such like places, but unlike birds of the two following species, they 

 avoid dry meadows, cultivated fields and dry slopes 



Total length from top of bill to tail 122 inches; weight about 4 to 43 ounces; 14 tail 

 feathers, all ordinary full-sized ones. Compared with the two after-mentioned this bird has 

 more white on the edges and tips of the feathers of the wing both above and below ; this is 

 especially noticeable below the wings where the brown bars are fewer and further apart. 

 It is also rather whiter on the sides of the body and is a slighter built bird though rather 

 longer in legs and bill. 



2.-PIN-TAILED SNIPE; LESSER SPRING SNIPE: 



{Gallinago stenura) Bonaparte; {Gallinago borsiieldi) Gray. 



This snipe is found in China and Japan during migration in spring and autumn but, 

 unlike the common snipe, does not remain through the winter in the northern or central 

 provinces : possibly some winter in the South. It is unknown in Europe, but occurs 

 throughout Asia, breeding in Siberia and Central Asia, passing southwards to winter in 

 India, Ceylon, Burmah, the Malay Peninsula and Islands. 



In the Yangtze valley pin-tails begin to arrive early in April, occasionally a stray 

 bird may be met with in March, while they usually become very abundant by the end of the 

 month; by the middle of May or a little later they have all passed northwards. The autumn 

 flights return in August, and continue to pass through until the end of September. A few 

 harbingers may even be met with in July. 



They frequent wet marsh lands, but not so much as the common snipe, and are seldom 

 found in the open paddy-fields. In the spring they are most abundant in the fields of 

 growing wheat, beans and rape, and on fairly dry grassy plains where the grass and clover 

 are a few inches long ; in the autumn the cotton fields are their favourite resort. 



Measurements are about the same as in the common snipe, but weight rather more, 

 viz., 4I to 5 ounces ; 26 tail feathers, of which the lO central ones are ordinary feathers, and 

 8 on each side are very short, narrow, stiff feathers with hardly any web ; these are the 

 " pin " feathers from which the bird is named. 



The pin-tail is a stouter built bird than the common snipe and its general colouring 

 shows more buff-above and less white; the under surface of the wings is much more closely 

 barred. It is noticeable that Hume, giving the average weight of nearly 200 killed in India 

 makes it rather less than that of the common snipe ; the birds, however, which are killed in 

 China in spring are generally in very good condition and, I am sure, are of an average 

 greater weight than the common snipe killed at the same time. 



