Letters to the BclHor. 423 



than nine specimens of Mergus castor, the merganser;, which 

 he had shot in the Mahanuddee, in the Sumhhulpoor district of 

 the Central Provinces. Years ago^ CoL Tickell procured a 

 single specimen at Chyehassa^ hut with this exception the 

 merganser has never hitherto been observed many miles out of 

 the Himalayas, or in any but rivers running through these 

 mountains. 



%ditx% U i\t €Mtar. 



Deae Sie, 



Dr. Jeedon^s description of the pintailed snipe (Gal- 

 linago stenuraj is hardly accurate as far as my experience goes. 

 He gives the following characteristics to distinguish it from the 

 common snipe : 



L — Of slightly smaller size than the common snipe. 



II. — Richly barred lower wing- coverts. 

 III. — Shorter beak. 

 IV. — Tarsus and feet slightly shorter. 



V. — Lateral tail feathers narrow, rigid, and pointed. 



The pintailed snipe is a rare* bird, and I think not so often 

 passed over as Dr. Jerdon supposed. I have looked carefully 

 through several large bags of snipe, and failed to get a specimen, 

 till the other day one was sent to me from Jhaiisi, by Mr. J. Y. 

 Sturt, Assistant Commissioner. Mr. Sturt, who is a keen and 

 ■ohservant sportsman, but not exactly a naturalist, distinguished 

 the bird by its habits before killiug it, as well as by its ap- 

 pearance afterwards. He sent the following note with it : 



Length, 11| inches; expanse, 17 ; beak, 2^ ; tail, 'l\ ; weight, 

 10 1 tolahs. 



" It rises with a sharp loud crj;' unlike the ordinary snipe, and 

 its flight is heavier. Found in green grass, under a grove of 

 trees, on the margin of the lake. Shot on 1st February, 1873, 

 at the Intara Lake, 16 miles out of Mhow Rainpoor, on the 

 Tehree road.^' 



It is larger, not smaller, than the common snipe, measuring 



* G. stenura is only rare in Northern and Western India. In Central India 

 they occur rather more commonly than scolopacinus ; in Southern India, e. g., on 

 the Nilghiris, the former only as a rule occurs. In Ceylon, stermra is the com- 

 mon snipe, and so it is ui the Andamans and in Burmali, and I have seen many 

 specimens from Eastern Bengal and Assam. In fact, stenura is the Palffitropic 

 and scolo^acmus the Palseartic form, — Ed., Steax Fdatheks. 



