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



"Total length 10-5 inches, culmen 2-6", wing 5-6", tail 2-15", 

 tursus 1-35 " " (Sharpe). 



" Young Birds. — As with G. sienura so with the present species, 

 the young birds appear to be distinguishable by their more uniform 

 dark brown throat and chest ; the stripes on the sides of the brown 

 are also black and not mottled with rufous " (Sharpe). 



Normally Swinhoe's Snipe is a bigger bird than is the Pintail, but 

 the difference in size is not sufficiently marked to make it a factor 

 of any use for the purposes of identification. Thus a specimen of 

 the former in the Calcutta Museum, probably a young bird, has the 

 wing only 5*08", whereas the Pintail often has the wing up to 5*5". 



Distribution. — Gcdlinago megala breeds in Eastern Siberia and 

 Northern China, migrating South in winter to Southern China, the 

 Philippines, Borneo and the Malaccas. It is possible also that it 

 breeds in Japan, though Alan Owston tells me that he has so far 

 never heard of its doing so. 



As far as known, for certain, the record of its occurrence within 

 the limits of the present work are two only in number. A skin of 

 a bird, already referred to, was sent me from the Shan States 

 in December 1908, and a second was shot by me in Dibrugarh in 

 January 1903. 



This snipe is essentially a far Eastern form, but there is no rea- 

 son why it should not be found fairly constantly in Burma and 

 also, occasionally, in Assam and the extreme East of Bengal. 

 Unfortunately casual examinations of big bags of snipe are of no 

 use in ascertaining whether specimens of megala form a part with 

 others, but if sportsmen will take the trouble to examine the tail 

 of those shot really . carefully, there can be but little doubt that we 

 shall soon obtained further 'records of its visiting India, more 

 specially in its extreme Eastern limits. 



There is practically nothing in record about this snipe, although 

 it is common enough in its own habitat. It is only within the last 

 two years that its nidification has become known, and even such 

 records as these are confined to Russian works. Dresser informs 

 me that he has received eggs from Buturlin which we^e taken in 

 Eastern Siberia. 



(To he continued.) 



