264 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



out of the whole series ; in nigrigenis the "bill is longer and the 

 wing the same and finally, in coelestis we have the bill the same 

 and the wing longer in the female. 



My own experiences go to shew that both in the case of stenura 

 and coelestis the female though, perhaps, a less bulky birdi, has wing 

 and bill consistently though but slightly longer than it is in the 

 male. At the same time, I have not had sufficient material to 

 work on, as regards the other species, to enable me to assert that 

 such is alwaj^s the case with birds of this genus. 



Distribution. — The Solitary Snipe is found throughout Eastern 

 Asia from Japan as far West as the Altai mountains and as far South 

 as the Himalayas and the Chin Hills extending further South during 

 the Winter into the plains of China and India. 



Within the limits of the Indian Empire the Solitary Snipe 

 breeds throughout the Himalayas from Western Kashmir to the 

 extreme East of Assam, both North and South of the Brahmaputra, 

 and thence through the Chin and Shan Hills wherever these are of 

 sufficient elevation. At this season it may be found at all heights 

 between 15,000ft. and 9,000, possibly breeding at rather lower 

 elevation than this as I shot a specimen in Ma3^ in N. Cachar at 

 6,000ffc. The testes of this bird were much swollen and it was 

 evidently breeding either in the place where shot or in the adjoining 

 Naga Hills which ran some 2,000ft. higher. 



As soon as the cold weather sets in the Solitary Snipe moves 

 further South and to lower elevations, but it is in no sense migra- 

 tory in India as is the Woodcock, seldom leaving the foot hills for 

 the plains and only occurring in the latter as a rare straggler. On 

 September 14th, 1879, Mr. A. Guthree obtained a specimen near 

 Benares and in 1898 Mr. F. W. F. Fletcher and Mr. W. Hamilton 

 shot a bird of this species near Devala in the S. E. Wynaad. 



I have records of its occurrence in Cachar (W. Cathcart), Sylhet 

 (St. J. Hickman), Dibrugarh, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Chittagong, 

 N. Cachar, Khasi and Garo Hills, and between October and March 

 it undoubtedly occurs regularly in small numbers all along the 

 foot of the Himalayas throughout the Dooars. 



The extent to which the Solitary Snipe is migratory has never 

 been well worked out. In Japan it would appear that it is resi- 



