GALLINAGO STENUEA. 
819 
by Peale. In the Andamans it is the commonest Snipe of the two species, and is very abundant at Aberdeen, 
South Andaman, and Mount Augusta. It was also observed by Mr. Hume in the Nicobars. 
Swinhoe notes it as found throughout China, Hainan, and Formosa in winter. In Hainan he observed 
it until the end of April, and at Cheefoo he obtained it in May. About Pekin it is found, according to Pere 
David, at the beginning and end of the summer. It was procured for the first time in the Philippines at 
Zamboanga by the ‘Challenger’ naturalists, and recorded by Lord Tweeddale in the P. Z. S. 1877. In Sumatra 
it was obtained by Raffles and S. Muller, and in Borneo by Schwaner, Doria and Beccari in Banjermassing 
and Sarawak ; and Mr. Everett recently obtained an example in February in the district of Sibu. Mr. Wallace 
records it from Timor, which is the limit of its range to the south-east. 
As regards the region to which it returns for breeding, this would seem to be Mongolia, the Lake- Baikal 
district, and Central and Eastern Siberia. It is not recorded from Turkestan, which shows that it does not 
migrate round the western end of the Snowy Range; but Col. Prjevalsky says it breeds in tolerable numbers 
on the Ussuri, and is more plentiful still during migration. In South-east Mongolia he found it rare, and did 
not observe it in the Hoang-ho valley or in Ivan-su and Koko-nor. 
Middendorff does not seem to have met with it in Siberia, and Schrenck does not record it from the Amoor; 
but in this region it has probably been overlooked, as Swinhoe has seen examples from Lake Baikal. Mr. 
Seebolim, to whose kindness I am indebted for an examination of the above-mentioned example, procured 
this species in 1877 on the Yenesay, within the Arctic circle ; and this is the most northerly point from which 
it has ever been recorded. He thus writes of it in his interesting paper on the birds of Siberia : — “ The first 
Wader which arrived at our winter quarters on the Arctic circle was the Pin-tailed Snipe. We shot a couple 
on the 5th of June, three days after the ice began to break up on the great river. Three days later they were 
exceedinglv common on the oases of bare grass ■which the sun had been able to make in a few favouiable 
situations in the midst of the otherwise universal desert of melting snow.” 
Habits. This Snipe, w'hich may be called the eastern representative of the common species, resembles 
it verv much in habits, differing from it simply in a few minor points. Like the latter it is a sociable and 
gregarious bird, frequenting (in Ceylon) paddy-fields, and by choice those which arc grassy, weedy, and 
partially cultivated, the margins of tanks, rushy swamps, marshes interspersed with small jungle, and also 
the borders of rivers, where, unlike its European congener, it may sometimes be seen, more especially at the end of 
the season, running along the mud like a Sandpiper. Large tracts of ground which look admirably suited for it 
may be walked over and not a bird seen ; other fields will then be entered upon where, to judge by a cursory 
glance, no Snipe would be likely to be met with, but in which all the birds in the neighbourhood will be found 
collected ; and they rise one by one in scattered company, or in “ wisps ” or flocks of half a dozen to a score or 
more. A particular sort of vegetation, probably weeds overrunning the grass, and affording them excellent 
shelter, or an abundance of food in the immediate vicinity of their retreat, or even on the spot itself, will have 
been the cause of their reunion in the early morning from the feeding-grounds they have frequented during 
the night. Though not associating in close company, they are nevertheless sociable birds, for any favourable 
condition of food or concealment will bring them together; and they do not appear to object to the tolerably 
near pi’oximitv of their kind. In one small field of a few acres, which had been recently flooded, leaving the 
soil soft and muddy, and which was covered with a species of running-weed or vetch, forming a tangled mass 
or cloak of vegetation at about 6 inches above the ground, I once found many scores of Snipe. It was a piece 
of Snipe-ground par excellence ; they could move about on the muddy ground, and bore to their heart’s content 
beneath the canopy of weed without being seen. It has been said by some that the Pin-tailed Snipe does not 
frequent the same ground as the Common ; but this depends entirely on the food searched for, and the locality 
in which it is found. When feeding it may be met with in all kinds of marshy damp situations, where the 
soil is favourable for “boring;” but when not feeding it is true it will settle down in places unlike those 
chosen by the Common Snipe. In the low country it retreats into the jungle during the heat of the day, and 
may be flushed from beneath bushes, the sides of paths, or even from little sandy plots surrounded hy trees. 
On the upland patnas of Ceylon it is often found resting on dry rising ground, as if the low-lying feeding- 
grounds were too damp and cold for it. I have also put them up in dry grass-fields resting on dead leaves ; 
but these instances are those of birds which have been disturbed ; and when once a Snipe is driven out of its 
retreat it will settle down anywhere. 
