386 THE PAINTED SNIPE. 
For the table the Painted Snipe, for some reason or other, is 
very inferior ; the flesh has often a sort of muddy taste, and 
wants entirely that peculiar, and I think delicious, flavour of the 
true Snipe, which, in its highest perfection, is found only in 
the Jack. 
THE PAINTED SNIPE breeds in almost all the localities in 
which it occurs ; in humid, well-watered districts, where it is a 
permanent resident, twice, if not three times, a year; in dry 
ones, once during its annual rainy season visit ; and in very low- 
lying, much-flooded tracts, once, or possibly twice, during the 
drier portions of the year. 
Reviewing the pretty abundant evidence now available, I 
should say broadly that the majority bred once during the 
height of the rains, and once during the middle of the cold 
season ; but practically in one place or another, this species has 
been found breeding in almost every month in the year ;* and, 
* IT may quote here a few of the notes I have received bearing on this point :-—— 
‘*T was informed yesterday (11th February 1879), that there were some Snipe seen 
in the bed of an almost dry river running past my bungalow here (Aurungabad), and 
went down with my gun toget them. My informant pointed to a spot almost as 
bare as the palm of my hand, and incredulously I walked up to it, when up got a 
Painted Snipe at my feet, which I shot, and at the report of the gun another rose 
close by, which I also knocked over. A lad, who was with me, then pointed out to 
me what was evidently the nest of the bird, (a lump of mud and slime trodden down 
in the centre into a hollow) containing one egg, and on my return another egg, pre- 
cisely similar, was taken out of the female bird.” —C. Guddins. 
‘¢On the toth of May 1875, at a swamp, some 4o or 50 miles from Calcutta, 
whither I took a run up by the E. B. R., I gota nest with four fresh eggs of the 
Painted Snipe.” —F C. Parker. 
** Remain all the year round on the Eastern Narra. Breed in May, June, and July, 
laying four eggs.” —S. Doig. 
‘*T took one nest near Calcutta towards the end of August.”—A. O. Hume, 
‘“‘T took numbers of the Painted Snipe’s nests near Deesa in 1876, in August and 
September.”—Z. A. Butler. 
“¢On the 24th September 1874, I extracted a perfect egg from a female I had shot 
(near Tonghoo).”— Wardlaw Ramsay. 
This year (1874) Mr. Rainey took two eggs (which he very kindly sent me) on 
the 30th September at Khulna, Jessore. 
Captain Sheppard obtained a nest with four eggs in September in Raipoor. 
‘¢On the 1st December last, at Gorebunder, about twenty miles from here, I caught 
two young Painted Snipe, about half grown; they were unable to fly. Is this not 
rather late to see birds so young?’ —F D. Lnverarity. 
‘¢T have lately found Rhynchea bengalensis breeding in this locality, (Chamraj- 
nugger, 35 miles south-east of Mysore, and 4o miles north of the Nilghiris). 
**T shot a male bird on the 5th December, and on dissection found that it was 
breeding : on 1oth December a brace rose from some marshy grass of which I shot 
one, which proved to be a female. I found a fully formed egg in it, which would 
have been laid in a day or two, the shell being still soft. I had a long search next day 
in hopes of finding the nest, but without success. Still I think that I have found 
enough to warrant my saying that Akynchea bengalensis breeds in this locality in the 
month of December.” —JZ. Forbes Coussmaker. 
Mr. Legge, writing from Ceylon, says of the Painted Snipe: ‘‘ This species, 
which is resident in this island (although I have no doubt its numbers are very much 
increased in the cool season), appears to breed at all times of the year. 
‘‘To commence with the evidence of our pioneer, Layard says: ‘The season 
of incubation is from May to July.’ That it breeds at or about this season is, I 
know from personal observation and inquiry, quite correct. The late Mr. Advocate 
Lorenz, (a much-lamented member of the Ceylon bar), who took a great interest in 
