BEST MONTHS AND LOCALITIES FOR GAME. 41 



during a morning stroll, and, on one occasion, when out snipe- 

 shooting with a friend, we obtained a specimen of each of the 

 three varieties, and all being in good condition were served up 

 at dinner, the superiority being awarded to the marsh part- 

 ridge. Although blacks and greys are distributed over nearly 

 the whole of Bengal, Behar, Chota Nagpoor and Orissa, with 

 the exception of the districts of Jepore, Khoolna, Backergunge, 

 Noakholly, Tipperah, and one or two others, they are no- 

 where sufficiently numerous to make up a bag of even twenty 

 brace to the gun during any morning or afternoon ; in fact, 

 half that number rarely falls now to a single gun in the day. 

 Where black or grey partridges are to be found, hares and 

 two or three varieties of quail may also be expected. The 

 best mixed bag I have ever known, including a brace or leash 

 of hares, partridges, a few quail and plover, and ten or a 

 dozen snipe, was sixty brace, all told, falling to three guns, 

 and all three pretty straight ones too. It is therefore impos- 

 sible to name particular localities where good bags of part- 

 ridge may be depended upon as certain compensation for five 

 or six hours' trudging through grass and bushes. 



Unlike partridge-shooting, snipe-shooting is not only more 

 general but more satisfactory in its results to anyone able and 

 willing to walk through mud and weeds under a burning sun 

 in the hottest time of the day. Large bags are common 

 around Calcutta, and in the Nudiga, Jepore, Hooghly, Pubna 

 and Moorshedabad districts during September and October. 

 This bird does not affect the high laterite tracts, and is com- 

 paratively scarce in Burbhoom, Bankoorah, and others, in 

 which a bag of ten couple is considered a fair one, and, indeed, 

 above the average. In January and February, however, ex- 

 cellent sport may be obtained in Manbhoom on the fields 

 below the embankments. On ground kept moist by the per- 

 colation of water from the reservoir (" bund/' as it is called 

 locally), after the removal of the rice crop, snipe will be found 

 in abundance, of the common and pintail varieties only, it 

 being too open for the Jack and painted ; and the walking 

 over the terraced fields is less fatiguing than knee deep 



