THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 275 



li The Wood Snipe lies in covert which is too thick for the ordi- 

 nary Snipe to run about in and he also sometimes favours very high 

 grass. The places he seems to like best are valleys in the hills 

 which are full of thick matted grass growing on the sites of old 

 rice khets. 



" He lies very close and is consequently rather difficult to flush 

 even with a dog and when flushed flies heavily, and seldom goes 

 more than a couple of hundred yards. 



" Occasionally when flushed he utters a croaking note, which 

 sounds like ' Tok-Tok '." 



The Wood Snipe obtained by my father in Purnea and Maldah 

 were shot by him in 1882 in company with Mr. J. Shillingford, 

 Mr. G. Hennessy and others during a couple of tiger shoots held 

 in April and Maj^ in the two districts. 



My father told me that one day late in April when coming back 

 from a successful tiger shoot in Maldah the line was engaged in 

 shooting anything that might get up before the elephants as they 

 wended their way home to camp. In this way a few hog deer 

 and various birds were added to the bag, and whilst going past 

 a number of tiny swamps covered with dense sungrass, one of the 

 line put up and dropped a bird ; he thought to be a Woodcock. 

 On search being made for this, several more were put up and a 

 good many shot, my father himself securing four. Further on the 

 same evening whilst working through similar places others were 

 -disturbed and two more shot and on following days yet others 

 were brought to bag. 



The same year and in the succeeding month, May, whilst shoot- 

 ing in Purnea, a similar experience was met with and more of 

 these birds killed. I cannot now remember what was the actual 

 number brought to bag, but from what my father told me they 

 must have been fairly numerous, especially in Maldah. 



He described the birds as being very slow and owlish in their 

 flight. They rose with a low croaking cry, flattered heavily over 

 the grass and ekra in a fitful and undecided manner and then 

 flopped into cover again before they had covered a hundred yards. 



The Wood Snipe, not only in appearance but in flight and 

 habits, is far more like the Woodcock than is the Solitary Snipe- 



