84 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 



there are many snug little grounds formed by terraced rice 

 fields at the foot of the hills, and here and there a low-lying 

 tank, where the monsoon water, rapidly receding, leaves an oozy 

 bed of rushes and sedge, where a few Pintails are always at 

 home. December and January are the best months for Snipe- 

 shooting, as by that time the superfluous rain-water has all 

 evaporated, and the birds are concentrated in all their regular 

 legitimate haunts, whereas earlier in the season the area of 

 wet ground is so large that there is no knowing where to look 

 for them. 



871.— Gallinago gallinaria, Gm. 



Kehhi. 1 I 



Equally distributed and equally common with stlienura. I 

 have kept no accurate record of the numbers of each species I 

 have shot, but I usually find, after a day's shooting, about as 

 many common Snipe as Pintails in the bag. Sometimes the 

 Pintails preponderate, probably because they are not so often 

 missed, for although the two species cannot perhaps be discri- 

 minated with certainty on the wing, the Pintail has, I believe, 

 a steadier and less erratic flight. 



872.— Gallinago gallinula, Lin. 



Kelshi. I I 



One or two are usually flushed in the larger Snipe grounds, 

 but the Jack is not very common. 



873.— Rhynchaea bengalensis, Lin. 



Eatnagiri. | Khed. | 



Common here and there in patches of reeds and grass in 

 semi-reclaimed rice fields, sometimes flushed in pairs, and 

 sometimes in large wisps of from a dozen to twenty or more 

 birds. 



877.— Numenius lineatus, Ouv. 



KelshL | ! 



Curlew come in September and leave about the end of 

 March. The earliest arrival I have noted is the 31st August. 

 They are found about the estuaries of all the principal creeks, 

 on the mud banks and spits of sand. Occasionally in the early 

 part of the season they are seen a few miles inland, feeding on 

 open grassy plains, where the ground is still damp and soft 

 after the monsoon rains. 



