340 THE PINGAD SSN: 
In Gujerat* the Pintail is more common, occurring, perhaps, 
in the proportion of one to five of the Common Snipe, and 
this is about the proportion in Khandesh,} but it is rarer still 
in the Panch Mahals. 
In the Central India Agency (excluding the Bundelkhand 
states,) and the western portions of the Central Provincest it is, 
if anything, less common than in Khandesh; but in Berar, 
though still in a decided minority as compared with the Fantail, 
it is somewhat more common. 
About Bombay,§ the Pintail is as common as the other, and 
in the Southern Konkan,|| if anything, more plentiful. | 
In the Nizam’s Dominions, the Deccan{ and the Belgaum** 
district the two species are about in equal force, but in Mysorett 
the Pintail immensely predominates. 
Further south also, though both species occur in every dis- 
trict and in Ceylon, (rare in some places, common in others) 
I believe that the Pintail is,as a rule, most numerous, though 
on some of the higher {{ ranges, the Fantail may perhaps be 
commonest. 
* “Tn Gujerat the Pintail is not nearly so common, but this Christmas I found 
that in a bag of nineteen couple of Snipe there were five couple of Pintails, an 
unusually large proportion I think in Gujerat.”_—F D. Lnverarity. 
+ ‘* This Snipe is rarer than the Common Snipe in Khandesh, perhaps one out 
of five or six being Pintails. 
In the Panch Mahals G. sthenura was still rarer, and I did not shoot one for 
every ten of the Common Snipe.” —F% Davidson. 
t ‘*I think that at Kamptee we get only the Common Snipe.”—A, McMaster. 
W. Blanford also says ‘‘ that about Chanda, Nagpur and the Upper Godavari, 
he never met with this species, though for two or three years he examined every 
bird he shot.” 
§ About Bombay the Pintail Snipe is quite as common as the Fantail. Indeed 
about Tanna, and in the Snipe grounds across the Bombay Harbour, you will get 
more of the Pintail Snipe than of the other.” —F% D. Lnverarity. 
|| ** Pintails are abundant throughout the Ratnagiri district, and as far as my 
experience goes are, if anything, rather more plentiful than the Common Snipe.” — 
G. Vidal. 
{| “In the Deccan where Snipe ground and Snipe are scarce, I have always found 
the two kins nearly equally divided in a day’s bag.” —F Davidson. 
But note that McMaster says :—‘“ At Secunderabad about five, and at Bellary 
fifteen, or perhaps twenty per cent. only were Pintails.” 
** «¢ The Pintail Snipe is very common in the neighbourhood of Belgaum ;—in 
fact about one-half the birds in every bag that I have examined have been Pintails.’’— 
£. A. Butler. 
++ “In Tumkur, Mysore, where there are many tanks and a good many Snipe, 
seven or eight Pin-tails would be shot for one Common Snipe.” —¥F. Davidson. 
‘“*Out of 315 Snipe lately examined by me and shot in the Mysore, Hassan, 
Tumkur, Chitaldrug and Kadur districts of the Province of Mysore— 
2555 or 80°95 per cent. were Pintails, 
42, or 13°34 nA » Fantails, 
3; or 0°95 an », Jacks, and 
or 4°76 9 5, Painters.”—C. Mclnroy, Alajor. 
15, 
ate hale, Boeeuitien remarks :—‘‘ The specimen was obtained by Mr. Ferguson at 
4,000 feet. The Pintail Snipe occurs in the cold season, at all elevations ; it is 
very scarce at the higher elevations, and most abundant in the rice fields in the 
plains. About Trevandrum they are much more abundant than G. scolopacinus. 
On. the Palnis Mr. Fairbank only procured the Fantail. On the Nilgiris, 
however, Colonel McMaster says that the Pintail is almost the only Snipe seen, 
