366 THE COMMON OR FANTAIL SNIPE. 
and, at least I know in my case, a frantic rush now and then to 
avoid a monstrous horse leech, which animals in these paddy 
swamps abound, and eagerly follow man, horse, or cattle to 
‘drink their blood,’ like our old friend Fi-Fo-Fum in ‘Jack the. 
Giant Killer.’ 
“In the Bengal Presidency the shooting is far more agreeable 
than in Burma. There is seldom need to wade at all, or at 
most not above the ankles. By the time the Snipe are abun- 
dant and in good condition, the paddy has been reaped, and 
the fields are nearly dry, and walking over them is easy and 
pleasant. The swampy margins of ‘jhils’ are also a favourite 
resort of these birds, as also open patches in forest, where 
springs of water well out through moss-like turf and weeds, 
and keep ever moist and soft the rich black soil. 
“Tt takes some time to understand Snipe ground, and many 
a fruitless weary hour has been passed by novices in India 
plunging and splashing, and labouring and wading through 
rank herbage, coarse grass and reeds, or beds of rushes, in- 
terrupted by pools of water, and such like spots, without seeing 
a Snipe probably all the day. It is not easy to describe the 
ground this bird selects. In paddy fields I found, where the 
stubble showed the mud freely—that is, was not too thick— 
and where puddles of water were interspersed, fringed with 
short, half-dry, curling grass and small weeds, there the Snipe 
were sure to be if in the country; and note, if these puddles 
were coated over with a film of irridescent oily matter (the wash- 
ings of an iron soil) the chances were greatly increased of a 
find. Off the alluvion, or dead flat ccuntry which borders 
both sides of the Ganges for various distances, the paddy 
cultivation in Orissa and Bengal is confined to the lower parts 
of the undulating soil—the ridge and valley being termed 
in Chota Nagpur the ‘tarn’ and the ‘dhoon’ respectively. 
The dhoons are narrow, and occupied generally by a single 
row of rice fields, divided by small banks, called ‘ bunds,’ ‘als,’ 
or ‘arees’ in different parts of India. ‘The sportsman can walk 
on the dry turf along the margin of these ‘khets,’ and shoot 
the Snipe as they rise from the muddy stubble, without wetting 
the sole of his foot. The fields, generally in a single row, are 
irrigated in dry weather from a tank excavated at the higher 
end of the valley; through the lower embankment of this 
reservoir the water slowly percolates, keeping the field next 
it, and perhaps the next one to that also, perpetually moist. 
It is to these spots the Snipe are driven as the season advances, 
and the country dries up, and here may be found perhaps fifty 
in anacre of ground.” 
Of the food of this species I have already spoken when 
dealing with the Pintail, and its familiar note of “psip,’ uttered 
as it rises, often looking back as it goes, though sounding 
apparently (to judge from the very different syllables employed 
