74 THE WOODCOCK AND BRITISH SNIPE IN CEYLON. 



the coldest part of the season-. This, on consideration, would 

 seem to be the most natural range for the two birds, the 

 former breeding in the western parts of Siberia and coming 

 in round the western end of the great Himalayan range ; 

 while the latter, which most likely breeds in the central part 

 of the great Russian territory, and the country to the north 

 of China generally, would, as a matter of course, enter India 

 by the north of Burmah, and spread through Bengal and 

 down the east coast of the Peninsula, monopolizing likewise 

 the whole of our little Island, to the almost entire exclusion 

 of its western and less tropical congener. 



