288 CHAK.YDIUIDJE. 



latitudes 50 and 70 N., and passes the winter in Southern Europe, 

 N. Africa, and Southern Asia. Though found in winter in all 

 parts of India, Ceylon, and Burma, at times it is by no means evenly 

 distributed. It is the Snipe of the Upper Indo-Gaugetic Plain, 

 of Sind, the Punjab, Kajputana, Guzerat, the N.W. Provinces, 

 Oudh, and Northern Bengal, and it predominates in the Peninsula 

 north of the Godavari, and in some places farther south, at all 

 events from October till February, but it is rare in Southern 

 India and Ceylon, and to the eastward in Assam, Burma, &c. 



Habits, fyc. The Common Snipe arrives in Northern India as a 

 rule in September or the beginning of October, and leaves in 

 March. A few stragglers may be met with before the end of 

 August and after the 1st of April, and in certain favourite localities 

 some birds may remain till May. There can be no doubt that a 

 few Snipe breed in Kashmir and perhaps in other parts of the 

 Himalayas, though it is extraordinary that no instances appear 

 to have been recorded, for it is asserted on apparently good 

 authority that birds of this species do occasionally breed in the 

 plains of India. In the 'Asian' for 1891 (Nov. 13th and 27th, 

 and Dec. l&th) Lieut. G. de H. Smith states that he found a nest 

 with three young in Gvvalior territory on Oct. 31st, whilst 

 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker records the breeding of Snipe near Dumka, 

 Sonthal Pergunnahs, in July and August, and both Mr. Baker and 

 Mr. Hole state that Snipe (whether G. coelestis or G. stenura is not 

 mentioned) breed regularly in Cachar. 



Snipe keep to marshy ground, and feed chiefly on worms, which 

 they obtain by thrusting their bills into soft mud and feeling for 

 their food with the sensitive dilated tip. They also eat larva? of 

 aquatic insects, small Crustacea, and mollusca. They move about a 

 good deal in the early morning and late evening, and are to some 

 extent nocturnal feeders, and they rest during the day amongst 

 grass and reeds, or sometimes amongst weeds, where these form a 

 thick floating mass, even on comparatively deep water, but Snipe 

 never actually sit in water ; as Eeid points out, they are careful to 

 keep their breasts dry. "When flushed they generally rise with 

 a peculiar sibilant cry, not badly represented by ' psip/ They 

 are gregarious, but, except when migrating, seldom fly in flocks. 

 Their flight is swift from the beginning, and very often eccentric at 

 first, though far less so in calm air under a hot sun than on a cold 

 day when a stiff breeze is blowing. As Snipe afford by far the 

 best bird-shooting to be had in India, much has been written on 

 their habits, and an excellent account is given by Hurne in the 

 ' Game Birds/ 



In its breeding haunts, the Snipe makes whilst flying a peculiar 

 drumming or bleating sound, the cause of which is still somewhat 

 obscure, although Legge's explanation that it is due to the puffs of 

 air from the rapidly vibrating wing on the expanded tail-feathers 

 (Birds Ceyl. p. 1218) seems most probable. The sound is only pro- 

 duced whilst the bird is descending obliquely in the air. The nest is 

 a cup-shaped hollow in moss, turf, or rushes, sparingly lined with 

 grass ; in this four eggs are deposited, round at one end, conoidal 



