THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 575 



also extending throughout Western Asia, through Asia Minor 

 to Persia. 



The only record* of its occurrence in India is that in the 

 B. N. H. Society's Journal, Vol. xii, p. 782, by Capt. Donovan. 



This gentleman recorded that on the 5th Sept. 1899 he shot 

 a bird near Madras weighing over 8 oz. and with a wing of about 

 6" in length which he sent to the Madras Museum for identification. 

 The Museum authorities pronounced the bird to be Gallinago 

 nemoricola, and then, as it was far advanced in putrefaction, threw 

 it away. 



Fortunately before sending the bird away Capt. Donovan care- 

 fully examined it and made copious notes. The main features 

 noticed by him in his examination of the bird were (1) its outer tail 

 feathers were soft, (2) not attenuated, (3) were white with only two 

 or three bars near their bases on the outer webs, and (4) in addition 

 to this the snipe had conspicuous white tips to the wing coverts. 



These points are ample for the purposes of identification and 

 there cannot be the least doubt but that the bird shot by Captain 

 Donovan was a specimen of the Double or Great Snipe (Gallinago 

 major). 



Moreover, there is no reason why the Great Snipe should not 

 sometimes visit India though it is curious that it should be first 

 recorded from the extreme S. E. It has been obtained at Fao in 

 Southern Persia by dimming and in its Western Range it 

 migrates very much further South than the latitude of this place, 

 indeed it has been obtained as far South in Africa as Cape Colony 

 itself. Here in India we should expect to meet with it occasion- 

 ally in any part of Baluchistan, Sind or Northern Bombay and 

 less often in other parts of Western and Southern India. 



The Great Snipe seems to be even more exclusively nocturnal in 

 its habits than the other members of the genus, feeding almost 

 entirely by night and not moving, unless forced to do so, after the 

 sun has risen at all high. 



* Since this was written our Society has received a specimen of what proves 

 to be undoubtedly Gallinago mijor from Capt. A. Boxwell, 119th Infantry, 

 Bangalore, and this bird was shot on October 1910, near Bangalore. A note on 

 the subject will appear in the next Journal. —Eds. 



