1 68 THE SNIPES AND SNIPPETS. 



which is 2^ inches long and perfectly straight. No 

 other bird of the same size has such a beak. The 

 Jack Snipe is a much smaller bird, and its beak is 

 only i y 2 inches long, but Jacks are not often seen on 

 Bombay tables. 



The word " Snippet" is not in the dictionary, but 

 it is a word of very common use in India and may be 

 defined as including any bird which purports to be a 

 Snipe and is not a Snipe. There are many such, and 

 since they are much easier to shoot than a real Snipe, 

 they find their way more readily to the market and to 

 the tables of those who buy their game. The butler 

 calls them " Ishnap " and he gives the same name to 

 Snipe, for he ignores the distinction. But, as I have 

 already said, you may know them by their beaks ; and 

 you may know them by their flavour too, for beak and 

 flavour are cause and effect in this case. The long 

 beak of the Snipe is soft and sensitive at the point, 

 being a peculiar instrument, wherewith the fastidious 

 bird, probing the spongy mud, feels and draws out 

 the tasty worm. Thus it grows fat and very savoury. 

 The Snippet's bill is a pair of forceps merely, with 

 which it picks up any vulgar fare that offers, small 

 crab, or snail, or water-flea ; and they impart to it 

 their flavours mingled. Not that Snippets are to be 

 despised. Some of them are very good eating. But 

 they are not Snipe. 



The majority of Snippets are either Sandpipers, 

 Greenshanks, or Redshanks. There are three kinds 

 of Sandpipers, of which the smallest is the common- 

 est. Jerdon says it is the least common, but he knew 

 little of this coast. Actitis hypoleucus, the Common 

 Sandpiper, is a very familiar bird here, found beside 



