8 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



shape of heat they migrate very far north in summer, 

 and in winter, being driven southwards by the intense 

 Arctic cold, spread themselves all over the temperate 

 zone. Thus it comes to pass that the full and the jack 

 snipe, the grey lag-goose, the mallard, the gadwall, the 

 pintail and the shoveller ducks, the widgeon and the teal, 

 are winter visitors both to India and the British Isles. 

 But whereas snipe, geese, and most ducks leave India 

 for the hot weather, many of them remain in Great 

 Britain for the summer and nest there. It is probable 

 that the birds which spend the winter in Great Britain 

 go further north to breed, their place in the British Isles 

 being taken by species thai; have wintered in Africa. 

 The north of Scotland, even, is too far south to serve as 

 a breeding place for some species. The little jack snipe 

 (Gallinago gallinuld) is one of these ; he never breeds 

 in England, whereas the common or full snipe (Galli- 

 nago ccelestis) does. Hence the former is set down as a 

 migrant in England, while the latter is thought to be a 

 permanent resident. In point of fact both are migrants, 

 as we see in India, but while some full snipe find a 

 Scotch summer cool enough for them to breed in, all 

 jack snipe find it insufferably hot. 



A curious fact regarding snipe in India is that these 

 birds appear in the south earlier than they do in the 

 north. I do not know the earliest date after the end of 

 the hot weather on which a snipe has been shot in the 

 Punjab, but believe it to be considerably later than the last 

 week in August, at which time snipe are regularly shot 

 in the Madras Presidency. This is not what we should 

 have expected. It is but reasonable to suppose that 



