272 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL LUST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



Somersetshire in Dec. 1908. There was usually a wisp of 7 birds, which 

 were abnormally wild and whether I had a gun or not, rose at 80 yards if 

 I approached them over the frozen ground, but if I walked down over soft 

 snow or in the ooze of a small stream that ran out of the swamp, 1 could 

 usually get within 40 yards, whether with a gun or without. I came to 

 the conclusion that the hard ground round this tiny swamp acted like the 

 sides of the basin and transmitted the vibration waves across it. In 

 Burma I have noticed, too, that snipe will be close for a barefooted native 

 than for a shooting boot, and are far wilder for a shooting boot on a semi- 

 solid kazin (or field-bund) than for the same boot in mud and water. 



The English bird is the Fantail, which according to Mr. Stuart Baker 

 (p. 592) has a more sensitive bill than a Pintail, so that this vibration 

 theory might explain why the English bird is wilder and also why Pintails 

 often lie so close when found among dry grass on solid ground. But it 

 would also remain to be proved whether the Fantail normally rests witli 

 his bill in contact with the water. 



I put forward the theory tentatively, and am prepared for destructive 

 criticism from more experienced sportsmen. 



E. N. BELL. 



Allanmyo, Burma, ^th March 1911. 



No. XXXV.— THE OCCURRENCE OF A ''BOOBY, " /S'?7i^ CYANOPS 

 (?) AT CANNANORE. 



My compound here ends abruptly in sea cliffs, and yesterday my ser- 

 vants killed a bird, which I take to be Sula cyanops, as it was sitting on 

 the o-round at the edge of the cliff. It was a young female, and the 

 following is the description of it : — Length 31, wing 15-5, tail 7 -o, tarsus 

 2-25, bill from gape 6-25. 



Leo-s and feet, face to behind the eyes, chin and soft underparts of lower 

 mandible, blue grey, nails of toes white. Bill bluish grey, paling to white 

 at the tip and along the cutting edges, both mandibles feebly serrated, 

 upper mandible longitudinally furrowed, irides pale lemon yellow. 



Head neck and upper back white with numerous small browji spots. 

 Lower plumage, except the sides and thighs, which have a few brown aitots. 

 pure white, upper plumage from upper back, &nd tlie wing covert lu-owti 

 tipped and edged white, wings blackish brown, tail brown, secondaries 

 and tertiaries brown, centred black and the basal portion white. 



I shall be glad to know what Sula it is, for "Booby" it is, and 

 Booby it was to have allowed itself to be hit over the head with a stick ! 

 I imao-ine it must have been driven there far ovit of its usual haunts by 

 the heavy gales we have experienced lately, and although in splendid 



