WILD-FOWL, SNIPE, ETC. 143 



viz., the solitary, or wood snipe,* the common 

 snipe,f the pin-tailed snipe, the painted 

 snipe, J and the Jack snipe. || The first is ex- 

 ceedingly rare, and, as its name implies, is always 

 found alone and in thick cover. I only ever saw 

 one myself, and that I shot in the hot weather. 



It was during a hot-weather trip in the Chanda 

 jungles. We were encamped at a place called 

 Marouda, and on the 25th of April, 1870, I went 

 out to look at the c hailas ' (young buffaloes) that 

 had been tied up for tigers. I had reached a 

 charming little swampy glade in the forest, called 

 the Kotal Zirun, surrounded by trees covered with 

 the giant-leaved elephant-creeper, and, hastily 

 satisfied myself that the c haila ' tied up at the 

 spot had not been visited by a tiger during the 

 night, I was turning away when a bird marvel- 

 lously like a wood-cock rose almost at my feet. 

 Having a rifle in my hand at the moment, I 

 of course could not fire. I watched the bird, 

 however, and after flying round once or twice 

 he pitched under a bush some thirty yards off. 

 Quickly taking my gun from the Gond who was 

 carrying it, I walked towards the spot, when the 

 bird rose only to be bowled over. It was in 



* Scolopax major solitaria. f Scolopax gallinago. 



$ Rynchoea bengalensis. || Scolopax gallinula. 



Bauhinia scandens. 



