FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF TIIE SOUTH KONKAN. 83 



862.— Haematopus ostralegus, Lin. 



Kelslii. 



Ratnagiri. | 



Scarce. A few are to be seen in the cold weather at the 

 estuaries of the principal creeks, but they seldom travel more 

 than a mile or so from the Coast, and are very wary and shy. 

 The 2nd October is the earliest date on which I have noticed 

 them. 



870.— Gallinago sthenura, KuM. 



I Mahapral. 

 I Mandangad. 



Pintail Snipe come in, in considerable numbers, in October and 

 November. The earliest date on which I have shot them is the 

 2nd October, and the latest the 16th April. The supply varies 

 very much according to seasons. I am inclined to think that, 

 as a rule, the best times are those succeeding years of lightest 

 rainfall. After an exceptionally heavy rainfall in 1878, the 

 highest indeed on record, both this and the next species were 

 decidedly scarce, as indeed were many other migratory 

 aquatic birds. It may be, as I suggested in a paper in " Stray 

 Feathers," Vol VIII., p. 175, that the rainfall having been 

 everywhere proportionally heavy, the birds were arrested in their 

 southerly flight. Or it may be, possibly, that the inundated 

 area being everywhere larger after heavy rains, the birds 

 are more scattered and appear to be in smaller numbers. The 

 result to the sportsman, however, is the same, and only small bags 

 are made. Snipe-shooting in Ratnagiri can seldom be had before 

 the first or second week in November, after the monsoon rice 

 has been harvested. Even then the birds are so scattered and 

 uncertain in their choice of grounds that a great deal of heavy 

 walking is necessary to make a moderate bag. The best grounds 

 are the low-lying kharvat rice fields, on the banks of the tidal 

 creeks, and reclaimed from the salt water by earthen embank- 

 ments. But in shooting over such grounds it is well, if possible, 

 to choose your time so as to have two or three hours of the 

 highest tide ; for all round the paddy fields are acres and acres 

 of mud swamps with stunted thorny bushes, iu which many of 

 the birds lie at low tide until they are driven up to the fields 

 by the flood. These mud swamps, intersected by numerous 

 deep channels and full of pit-falls and sticky black slush, are 

 too nasty walking to tempt even the most enthusiastic sports- 

 man. Bnt as the Snipes themselves are driven from these 

 pestilent strongholds by the tide there is happily no necessity 

 to venture into them. The best Snipe- shooting is to bo had 

 near the Coast in the vicinity of the large rivers. But inland 



