818 GALLINAGO STENURA. 



they arc seldom visited by European sportsmen ; and the only danger the birds have to fear is at the hands of 

 the wily Singhalese gunner, who not unfrcquently "pots" them in the early morning, before they have ceased 

 to feed and seek concealment in the grass. But unless the villager is near enough to a market to be able to 

 brine; in the Keeswatuwa he shoots for sale, I do not think that he cares to waste his powder and shot on them. 

 I must remark, however, in justice to native prowess, that occasionally Singhalese are to be found who can 

 render a moderate account of Snipe on the wing. 



Throughout the south-eastern districts, whej'c there are tanks or freshwater marshes, Snipe arc abundant. 

 At Sittrawella, near Kiriudc, I found them on one occasion in great numbers. There are other favourite 

 haunts in the Yala district ; and I believe the great Moorish rice-fields, irrigated by the waters of the Ambare 

 and other tanks, form an excellent Snipe-ground. I have already alluded to the neighbourhood of Tamble- 

 gam bay, which is one of the best grounds in the island, and there are other excellent spots both in the interior 

 and on the north-east coast. In the Anaradhapura and Vavonia-Yclankulam districts they are generally 

 abundant, as also in the Jaffna peninsula. 



From the low country the Snipe finds its way into those portions of the hills where the locality is suitable 

 to its habits ; it affects the Dumbara paddy-lands and the terraced fields in all the Kandyan valleys ; and 

 during December and January great numbers frequent the Fort-Macdonald district, and furnish excellent 

 sport for the planters of the surrounding neighbourhood. They are found on all the upland plains on the 

 Nuwara-Eliya plateau, and are numerous on the Horton Plains, which form, of course, the highest Snipe- 

 ground in the island. 



About the middle of April the Snipe begin to move northward, and by the end of the month the majority 

 have left the island. I have met with them in the Gallc district as late as the 3rd of May, and have heard of 

 their occurrence a little later than this. Some few birds occasion illy remain in the island throughout the 

 year; but these are evidently unfit for migration, owing to wounds, or, in some cases, they may be first-year 

 birds, which, as in the case of other Waders, remain stationary the first year. There can be no other cause 

 to make Snipe remain in such a tropical latitude as Ceylon. 



On the mainland of India the Pin-tailed Snipe is most abundant in Lower Bengal, in portions of Central 

 India, parts of the Deccan, the Carnatic, and the south of the peninsula generally. It is also numerous in 

 Assam, Pegu, and the Rangoon district. These arc the portions of Iudiau territory which it would naturally 

 chiefly affect, seeing that it must of necessity enter India from its Central-Asian breeding-haunts by way of 

 Assam and Northern Burmah ; and the migratory stream would therefore flow down the eastern side of the 

 empire and end in Ceylon. 



Verifying these remarks, we find Mr. Hume noticing many specimens from Assam, Mr. Oates saying 

 that it is the Common Snipe of Tipper Pegu and very abundant at Tonghoo, and Dr. Armstrong recording it 

 as very abundant in the Irrawaddy delta. Again, Mr. Inglis finds that it is extremely common in North-east 

 Cachar, Captain Beavan testifies to its being more numerous than the European Snipe at Barrackpore, and 

 Mr. Cripps to its being common in Furreedpore; It seems then to skip over a large tract of country in Chota 

 Nagpur, which would seem to be tenanted- chiefly by its European ally. Mr. Ball says he never met with it 

 in the "division " in question, and only notes it from Manbhum, I conclude, on Captain Bcavan's authority; 

 lie, however, records it from the Godaveri valley. From the Mahabaleshwar district Dr. Fairbank does not 

 notice it; and Messrs. Davidson and Wender say that it is not so common in the Deccan as G. scolopacina. 

 In the Carnatic it is more abundant than the latter; and it is the Snipe of the Nilghiris. Mr. Bourdillon 

 remarks that they are found at all elevations in the Travancore hills, and that they are more numerous at 

 Trevandrum, in the plains, than the other species. 



In Northern and Western India it is rather rare. Major Le Messurier and Mr. Blanford have recorded 

 it in ' Stray Feathers ' from Sindh, but no one else ; and Captain Butler says that it is not common near 

 Mount Aboo ; he procured it at Milana and near Ahmcdabad ; and the date of its earliest arrival in this district 

 is given as the 2 1th August. Captain Hayes Lloyd does not record it from Kattiawar. 



Turning eastward again, to trace out its winter quarters in that direction, we find that it is common in 

 suitable localities throughout Tenasserirn, and was procured by Mr. Davison on the Pakchan, in the extreme south. 

 In the Malay Peninsula it is i - ecordcd from Wellesley Province and Malacca ; and at Singapore it was procured 



