14 WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



missing, and execration may be amongst the accompani- 

 ments of this fascinating sport. Or it may be enjoyed un- 

 der the most comfortable of conditions, for the snipe dearly 

 loves warmth, and even dryness, when the rapid process of 

 his digestion demands it. Then he will be found on grassy 

 patches where a bit of cover keeps off the wind but lets in 

 the sun, and then, too, he is apt to be lazy. 



Mr. Styan (vide "With Boat and Gun") gives a list of 

 seven varieties of snipe to be met with in China whilst David 

 mentions only five. Latham's snipe (Gallinago Australia) 

 does not come so far north as the Yangtze; the solitary 

 snipe (G. soUtaria) is very uncommon; the painted snipe, 

 (Rhynchea capensis) not a true snipe, is indigenous to the 

 Yangtze valley though not very plentiful; and the jack snipe 

 (G. gallimda), which is likewise scarce. That leaves us with 

 the three plentiful varieties: the common, or as we best know 

 it, the winter snipe; the pintailed, or lesser spring snipe 

 (G. stennra) ; and the great spring snipe, or Swinhoe's. The 

 commonest and best method of deciding which is which of 

 birds so alike in plumage as the varieties of snipe has been 

 found to be, after consideration of weight, to count the tail 

 feathers. The heaviest of all snipe is the great or solitary 

 snipe which runs between 1\ and 10 oz. The jack is the 

 lightest, his dainty little body turning the scale at something 

 over 2 oz. The common snipe runs from 3 to 8 oz.; Swin- 

 hoe's from 6 to 8 oz. 



The tail feathers are found as follows: Common, 14; 

 Solitary, 20; Swinhoe's, 20; Pin-tailed, 26; Latham's, 18. 

 The number of stiff feathers, consisting of little more than 

 the quill, which give the pintail his name, varies in the diff- 

 erent species, from 16 out of the 26 in the pintailed, to 4 out 

 of 18 in Latham's. But even with such means of identific- 

 ation it is very difficult for the ordinary sportsman to dis- 

 tinguish the varieties with any certainty, for the variations 

 in each species are wide. The pure white belly of the winter 

 snipe marks him off from the spotted or barred lower parts 

 of others. 



Many an ardent sportsman, however, never cares to 

 trouble his head about such niceties as these. To him a 

 snipe is a snipe whether Swinhoe, Tatham, or any other man 

 had the honour to stand sponsor to it. The bird is brought 

 to bag. It has provided for the exercise of the body, the 

 brain, the hand, and the eye. It has tempted from the desk, 

 the office, or the study, the man who has secured it, and now 

 it will provide a further pleasure for him or his friend in 

 fulfilling its destiny when served up, nicely browned with a 

 bit of choice bacon over it, at the dinner table. Why bother 

 over counting tail feathers, or going about with a weighing 



