THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 557 



Of Biirmah Tickell says : — " Snipe shooting in Burmah or Arakan 

 is a pursuit of pleasure under considerable difficulties. The sport 

 is in its prime long before the country has emerged from the flood 

 of the rainy monsoon, so that Auceps has to wade through paddy 

 fields up to his middle (if not haply higher) and under a sun which 

 blisters his back, before he can make a good bag.''" 



In Upper India Hume records that snipe are to be found " in 

 every swamp or marsh, on the margins of ponds, lakes and rivers 

 wherever there is a more or less muddy foreshore protected by low 

 grass, rush or weed. Of all things they seem to love a kind of rush 

 with a circular stem (Scirpus carinatus, I think) which is common 

 about the edges of ponds and jheels in the North-West Provinces 

 and which is a sure find for them. In the heat of the day, when 

 JJrlier and similar crops run down to the water edge, alongside some 

 jheel you will often find many snipe in those." 



In Southern India they also seem to frequent ponds, jheels and 

 river edges far more than in Bengal, but in many places they also 

 are often shot in large numbers in the rice fields. 



Reid notices a fact about snipe which is absolutely correct 

 though not often noticed by sportsmen, and this is that snipe never 

 allow their breast and lower plumage to become really wet or 

 draggled. 



There are three questions in regard to snipe shooting which seem 

 to be ever green in their interest to sportsmen, and these three are — 

 (1) is snipe shooting harder in England than in India, (2) what 

 constitutes a good shot, and (3) what constitutes a good bag. 



As regards the first question there is, I think, little doubt that, 

 on the whole, snipe are harder to hit at home than in India. 

 There can be no doubt that the average snipe at home is wilder, 

 flies faster and twists more than he does out here but, on the other 

 hand, the difference between shooting on a sweltering day in Sep- 

 tember in the Plains of India and shooting at home on a frosty day 

 is very great indeed and goes a long way to level up the chances 

 between the gun and the bird. As the weather gets colder the 

 bird out here get away quicker and stronger and more nearly 

 approach in their flight their English brethren. 



As to what constitutes a good shot it is difficult to say. One 



