Malay Peninsula it is rare to a degree. Out of several hundred
Snipe carefully examined by Davison, only two, one shot
near Malacca (2° North Latitude), and one in the island
of Tonka (83 North Latitude), proved to belong to the
present species, It has not been recorded or sent, so far as I
know, from Continental Siam, or the countries eastwards of
this, (though it probably straggles to most or all of these) or
from Sumatra, Java, or Borneo; but it seems not uncommon in
the Philippines (where it has been procured in the islands
of Luzon, Bohol, Lcyte, &c.,) and Japan, and is common in
Hainan, Formosa, and throughout China during the cooler half
of the year. Prjevalski met with it at Lake Hanka in the
Ussuri country, where some few breed, in the valley of
the Hoang-ho and South-East Mongolia, in the former of
which it is a rare breeder, as also probably in the latter, and
at the Koko-Nor in Chinese Tibet. It is a summer visitant
throughout Siberia, breeding commonly as far north as the
70th degree North Latitude, on the Boganida. In Eastern
Turkestan it is similarly a common summer visitant,* as it is
likewise in Western Turkestan where some, however, also
remain in winter. Stoliczka obtained it at Punja in Wakhan
in April. To Afghanistan and Beluchistan it is a winter visitant
only, widely and universally distributed, but owing to the
nature of the country nowhere met with as yet in large numbers.
Throughout Persia it appears to be common in winter
in suitable localities, and some may breed there as it was
observed in May near Karman, at an elevation of some 8,oao
feet. Westward it abounds in Turkish Arabia (Mesopotamia),
Armenia, and parts of Asia Minor, and occurs also ¡11 Palestine.
Throughout the north of Africa, as far south at any rate as
the highlands of Abyssinia on the cast and the Gambia river
on the west (say approximately the 12th degree North Latitude),
the Canaries and Madeira, the whole of Europe,
including the islands of the Mediterranean, the Azores and
Iceland, and the southern portions of Greenland, the Fantail
occurs in suitable localities at one season or another, breeding
for the most part north of the 50th degree North Latitude to well
within the Arctic Circle, but occasionally further south, as
in Algeria, the Atlantic Islands and perhaps even Abyssinia,
* " The Common Snipe was tolerably numerous in the neighbourhood of
Yarkand in summer, where it was ascertained to breed. The bird was never observed
bi winter. It was found in the neighbourhood of marshy ground and inundated
fields. This species breeds in May and June: the eggs—a good deal intubated—
were obtained on the 12th June, and two young nestlings on the 16th
of the same month.
" Two eggs measured 1 '58 in length by 1 '11 in breadth, and 1 '55 by r "13. In
lor Q they aie like a broad oval, suddenly pinched and pulled out to form the small
end. of the egg. They have a slight gloss, and the ground colour is dirty olive green.
The small end is unspotted, the constricted portion of the egg has some largish spots
of brownish, and the large end is nearly covered with confused blotches of brown
and brownish black."—jt. Scully.
where at Lake Ashangi (elevation 8,500 feet, 120 30' North
Latitude), Blanford found it still common in the beginning of
May.
THE COMMON SNIPE, I am disposed to think, arrives, broadly
speaking, from three weeks to a fortnight later than the Pintail.
There is no general arrival of even the advanced guard of the
Fantail until quite the end of August, while the Pintail constantly
appear in considerable numbers with the third week
of that month. The question is complicated by the fact that
individual stragglers of the Common Snipe often appear along
with the first Pintail detachments. Thus Butler shot both
species at Deesa on the 24th of August ; but, as a rule, they
only begin to arrive in appreciable numbers in September* ; they
are not well in until the close of the month, and are even later in
Southf and in Burma.*
They mostly leave the plains before the close of March§,
but some linger everywhere much later, especially in the Sub-
Himalayan and similar well-watered and well-wooded tracts, and
* " The Common Snipe arrives in 'he valley of Nepal about the 1st of September,
and retires early in May. Although it may be shot in the valley in any month
between the dates above indicated, it is most numerous on its migrations, being
more common from September to about the middle of November, and in March
and April. I found it rather scarce in the Nawakot district in November. It is
always found in the wet fields and swampy grounds in the central parts of the valley,
and seems to avoid the crop fields and the ground at the foot of the hills. It
occurs in the valley in about one-third oFthe numbers of stheutira."—J. Scully.
"The Common Snipe begins to make its appearance towards the end of September,
but it is not until the end of October that it appears in any numbers in the Lucknow
Division."—Geo. Held.
"On the Eastern Narra (South-East Sindh) they begin to arrive in September,
and leave in April."—Scrape B. Doig.
"The first full Snipe was shot here (Jacobabad) this year on the 28U1 of August,
but it was some time later before any considerable numbers appeared."—P. J,
Maitland.
" Snipe migrate from colder climates to the plains of India about the first week
in October."—J. H. Baldwin.
•\ " I have shot them all over Southern India south of the 12th degree North
Latitude ; they are cold-weather visitants, arriving about October, and leaving again
during March and April, some few remaining until May or even later. They are quite
common."—A. 7'heobald.
% "The Common Snipe is comparatively rare ; the Snipe of Burma is the Pin,
tail. The Fantail does not appear till the cold weather is well in, say in Decemberand
then but few will be found in even a large bag of Snipe. It stays till late. I
have shot them in March."—Eugene Oates.
" The Common Snipe comes in about the end of September. I note that the
first I shot near Moulmein were a couple on the 23rd September 1878."—T. C.
Bingham,
§ " Very common in Faridpur in suitable localities; for the first half of the
season, October to December, they are a good deal scattered about, and are
found in standing paddy, marshes and such like places ; but from January they are
only to be found in " blnls" and marshy hollows, if these have grass growing
over them. By the end of March very feiv birds are to be seen."—y. R. Cripps.
"The majority leave (the Lucknow Division) ag?in about the middle of March,
though some may still be found up to, if not later than, the 15th April. On that date,
this year, while birds-nesting along the banks of the Goomtee, I was surprised to
find a number of them frequenting patches of rice cultivation all along the river
margin."—Geo. Reid.
X I