THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 903 



summer plumage, except by the greater amount of blackish 

 mottling on the hinder neck and the generally more rufescent 

 colour. The pale bands on the back are lighter" (sic brighter ?) 

 "but soon fade with exposure, and wear the paler tints of the 

 spring and summer dress." (Sharpe). 



There appears to be no difference in size between the sexes or 

 in the colouration of the soft parts. Hume thus writes of this little 

 snipe : — " I cannot discover any constant or average difference in 

 the sizes of the two sexes ; they vary a great deal according towage, 

 but equally large and small birds of both sexes appear to occur. 

 The following is a resume of my measurements " : — 



"Length 7-75 to 9-0; expanse 13-25 to 14-80 j wing 4-1 to 

 4-67; tail from vent 1-87 to 2-5; tarsus -89 to -95; bill from 

 gape 1-5 to 1-7; at front 1-57 to 1-74; weight 1-53 to 2-48 oz." 



" The legs and feet are pale greenish, at times with a bluish or 

 greyish shade, generally more or less olive or yellowish ; the claws 

 blackish brown ; the irides deep brown ; the bill is blackish brown 

 at tip, and darkish brown on nares and along the commissure ; 

 the rest paler, sometimes a pale grey brown, sometimes with a 

 fleshy tinge, and sometimes with a dull bluish or slaty tinge, 

 especially towards the base of the lower mandible. Butler calls 

 the colour of the feet " pale olive green.'' 



Distribution. — The latest synopsis of the distribution of the Jack 

 Snipe is that given by Oates in the Second Volume of his Game 

 Birds. He writes : — " The Jack Snipe is found over the whole 

 peninsula of India from the Himalayas to the extreme South and 

 also in Ceylon. It has not yet been obtained in the Andamans 

 and Nicobars and probably does not occur in these islands. To 

 the East it ranges from Assam down to Pegu and to the latitudes 

 of Moulmein, but I cannot discover that it has ever been shot in 

 the Shan States." 



" This Snipe, in summer, is found in Northern Europe -and 

 Asia up to, and within, the Arctic Circle from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific Oceans. In winter it migrates to the British Isles, Central 

 and Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Palestine, Persia, India, 

 Burma and China." 



