550 JO URNAL, BOMB A Y NA TUBAL M1STOB Y SO CIETY, Vol. XX. 



"Length 9*2 to 12-5; expanse 16-0 to 18-25; wing 4-9 to 

 5*71 ; tail from vent 2*3 to 3 ; tarsus 1-25 to 1-33 ; bill from gape 

 2*5 to 2-9 ; at front 2-62 to 3-0 ; weight 3*1 to 5-5 oz. ; average 

 4-27" (Hume). 



" Young. — Differs from the adult in being more rufous, especially 

 on the throat and neck. The black markings of the back are 

 more broken up and mottled with rufous bars, and the pale outer 

 bands along the scapulous are not so wide " (Sharpe). 



Nestling. — Pale fawn tinged with rufous above and fading almost 

 to white on the underparts. Upper parts mottled with deep 

 brown, or blackish brown ; wing with two dark bars and head 

 with the orbital streak and bars on the head well defined. 



The above description is taken from a Cashmere nestling, and 

 nestlings from England appear to be brighter and more chestnut. 

 All nestlings have tiny silvery tips to many of the feathers. 



There is a form of the Fantail which has been honoured with a 

 separate name and called Sabine's Snipe (Gallinago sabinii) but 

 which is now recognised by all ornithologists as being merely a, 

 melanistic form. The home of this is in Ireland whence specimens 

 extend to England in some numbers, one also having been obtained 

 in Scotland and one on the Continent. In the " Irish Naturalist " 

 for January 1895 Barrett-Hamilton has written an article on 

 Sabine's Snipe in which he accounts for no less than 55 specimens 

 of which 31 were obtained in Ireland and 22 in England. The 

 only record of its occurrence in India is made by Finn in his 

 " Indian Waders," in which he says " a fresh specimen of a snipe 

 was brought to me for identification which was an undoubted 

 example of this form." 



A comparatively far more common variation in India is the pale 

 form, one cannot call them albinistic as they are not true albinos. 

 Even this, however, is very rare. Mr. W. K. Dods, who has shot 

 many thousands of snipe, has never found one, and in 28 years- 

 shooting in India I have been no more lucky. 



The Indian Museum has five specimens of this pale snipe. 

 They are all of a very pale fawn, almost white, ground colour and 

 have the usual markings, but all of a pale fawn or rufous fawn tint. 

 With the exception of one bird all have the bill and feet normally 



