INDIAN SNIPE SHOOTING 



twenty to sixty couple per diem. It is quite true 

 that, in the heat of the day, snipe in India often 

 sit close and fly lazily, but I have also seen them 

 every bit as wild as their wildest congeners at 

 home, even when the latter are met with on a wet 

 marsh, on a wild day, and when the birds are 

 sufficiently numerous to warn one another by their 

 cries as they get up. 



I have upon two occasions in India seen about 

 two hundred birds in the air at the same time ; and 

 when shooting there, as I have sometimes done, in 

 rain, I have found the Indian snipe well-nigh un- 

 approachable within possible range, while his speed 

 and eccentricity of flight in no way fell short of 

 those displayed under similar conditions by the 

 English bird. 



Three common species of snipe are widely 

 distributed throughout India, viz., the Fan-tail, or 

 common snipe, which appears to be identical with 

 the British bird ; the Pin-tail, which so closely 

 resembles the former that a tyro would not observe 

 any diversity between the species ; and the Jack, 

 which appears to be the same bird as is known 

 by that name in the United Kingdom. A species, 

 wrongly named the painted snipe since it is not 

 a snipe at all, is frequently met with and bagged 

 when snipe shooting, and is counted in the bag. 

 A brief description of these four birds may 

 advantageously be inserted in this place. 



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