GALLDfAG-0 STENURA. 819 



by Peale. In the Andamans it is the commonest Snipe of the two species, and is very abundant at Aberdeen, 

 South Andaman, and Mount Augusta. It was also observed by Mr. Hume in the Nicobars. 



Swinhoe notes it as found throughout China, Hainan, and Formosa in winter. In Hainan he observed 

 it until the end of April, and at Cheefoo he obtained it in May. About Pekin it is found, according to Pere 

 David, at the beginning and end of the summer. It was procured for the first time in the Philippines at 

 Zamboanga by the 'Challenger' naturalists, and recorded by Lord Tweeddale in the P. Z. S. 1877. In Sumatra 

 it was obtained by Raffles and S. Midler, and in Borneo by Schwaner, Doria and Beccari in Banjermassing 

 and Sarawak ; and Mr. Everett recently obtained an example in February in the district of Sibu. Mr. Wallace 

 records it from Timor, which is the limit of its range to the south-east. 



As regards the region to which it returns for breeding, this would seem to be Mongolia, the Lake-Baikal 

 district, and Central and Eastern Siberia. It is not recorded from Turkestan, which shows that it does not 

 migrate round the western end of the Snowy Range; but Col. Prjevalsky says it breeds in tolerable numbers 

 on the Ussuri, and is more plentiful still during migration. In South-east Mongolia he found it rare, and did 

 not observe it in the Hoang-ho valley or in Kan-su and Koko-nor. 



Middendorff does not seem to have met with it in Siberia, and Schrenck does not record it from the Amoor ; 

 but in this region it has probably been overlooked, as Swinhoe has seen examples from Lake Baikal. Mr. 

 Seebohm, to whose kindness I am indebted for an examination of the above-mentioned example, procured 

 this species in 1877 on the Yenesay, within the Arctic circle ; and this is the most northerly point from which 

 it has ever been recorded. He thus writes of it in his interesting paper on the birds of Siberia : — " The first 

 Wader which arrived at our winter quarters on the Arctic circle was the Pin-tailed Snipe. We shot a couple 

 on the 5th of June, three days after the ice began to break up on the great river. Three days later they were 

 exceedingly common on the oases of bare grass which the sun had been able to make in a few favourable 

 situations in the midst of the otherwise universal desert of melting snow." 



Habits. — This Snipe, which may be called the eastern representative of the common species, resembles 

 it very much in habits, differing from it simply in a few minor points. Like the latter it is a sociable and 

 gregarious bird, frequenting (in Ceylon) paddy-fields, and by choice those which are grassy, weedy, and 

 partially cultivated, the margins of tanks, rushy swamps, marshes interspersed with small jungle, and also 

 the borders of rivers, where, unlike its European congener, it may sometimes be seen, more especially at the end of 

 the season, running along the mud like a Sandpiper. Large tracts of ground which look admirably suited for it 

 may be walked over and not a bird seen ; other fields will then be entered upon where, to judge by a cursory 

 glance, no Snipe would be likely to be met with, but in which all the birds in the neighbourhood will be found 

 collected ; and they rise one by one in scattered company, or in " wisps " or flocks of half a dozen to a score or 

 more. A particular sort of vegetation, probably weeds overrunning the grass, and affording them excellent 

 shelter, or an abundance of food in the immediate vicinity of their retreat, or even on the spot itself, will have 

 been the cause of their reunion in the early morning from the feeding-grounds they have frequented during 

 the night. Though not associating in close company, they are nevertheless sociable birds, for any favourable 

 condition of food or concealment will bring them together; and they do not appear to object to the tolerably 

 near proximity of their kind. In one small field of a few acres, which had been recently flooded, leaving the 

 soil soft and muddy, and which was covered with a species of running-weed or vetch, forming a tangled mass 

 or cloak of vegetation at about 6 inches above the ground, I once found many scores of Snipe. It was a piece 

 of Snipe-ground par excellence ; they could move about on the muddy ground, and bore to their heart's content 

 beneath the canopy of weed without being seen. It has been said by some that the Pin-tailed Snipe does not 

 frequent the same ground as the Common ; but this depends entirely on the food searched for, and the locality 

 in which it is found. When feeding it may be met with in all kinds of marshy damp situations, where the 

 soil is favourable for "boring;" but when not feeding it is true it will settle down in places unlike those 

 chosen by the Common Snipe. In the low country it retreats into the jungle during the heat of the day, and 

 may be flushed from beneath bushes, the sides of paths, or even from little sandy plots surrounded by trees. 

 On the upland patnas of Ceylon it is often found resting on dry rising ground, as if the low-lying feeding- 

 grounds were too damp and cold for it. I have also put them up in dry grass-fields resting on dead leaves ; 

 but these instances are those of birds which have been disturbed ; and when once a Snipe is driven out of its 

 retreat it will settle down anywhere. 



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