GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA SNIPE 



October, and to last till 15th March or thereabouts, the 

 contents of the bag depending largely on the locality and 

 season. 



Of the enormous variety of small game to be obtained 

 in India the snipe, I think, takes first place, since it affords 

 quite the prettiest sport of all Indian game birds. 



No sooner has the cold weather set in, about the 

 beginning of November, than the snipe begin arriving ; 

 on first alighting, after their long journey from the north, 

 t hey are naturally in poor condition, but soon pick up and 

 are then quite as rapid on the wing as English birds. 



There are two varieties of the true snipe — one rather 

 smaller than the common snipe, with a pin tail, shorter 

 bill, and beautifully marked bars on the end of the wing. 

 They are supposed to come to India from the Straits of 

 Singapore or China. 



There is also the Jack snipe which lie very close, often 

 I ising within a yard or two of the sportsman's feet. Painted 

 snipe arc also to be met with in the marshes — ^a large, clumsy 

 looking bird, with an owl-like flight, and not worth shooting 

 ( ither from the sporting or pot point of view. 



Snipe, like quail and all migratory birds, are subject to 

 good and bad seasons, being sometimes comparatively 

 scarce. Forty or fifty couple are considered a fair bag, 

 but in Sind one of two hundred will often be made by a 

 good gun, and even this number, I am told, has frequently 

 been doubled ! A friend of mine and myself once accounted 

 for one hundred and fifty couple at a place called Larkana 

 in the Sind district, but this kind of shooting being merely 

 ;i matter of sufTicient cartridges was not much to my taste. 



Christmas shooting camps are generally held in all the 

 •iood, small-game shooting districts, and very fine sport is 

 sually enjoyed ; especially by men living in large cities 

 like Bombay. These camps are very enjoyable from a 

 social point of view, but the wholesale slaughter of birds, 

 which is the chief object of these meetings, did not appeal 

 to me. I preferred to go out morning and evening when 

 on tour, picking up a sufficient number of birds for the 

 pot ; or when near enough to headquarters, to send in to 

 friends to whom small game is always an agreeable change 

 from the perpetual diet of fowl. 



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