Mongolia, and breeding at Lake Tsaidamin Nor, which is in
about the same latitude as Pekin, being 40o North Latitude,
but it docs not go north into South-East Siberia, or the Ussuri
country, nor he says into Kansu of Western China, nor to the
Koko Nor in Chinese Tibet. It has not been observed in cither
Eastern or Western Turkestan, or towards the Pamir, or in
Northern Afghanistan ; but Captain Cook, R.E., of the 5th
Goorkas, shot a specimen in January, in Central Afghanistan, in
the Kurrum Valley, and Hutton procured it near Kandahar in
the south. From Beluchistan it has not been recorded, nor
from any part of Persia, but Antinori gives it from Asia Minor,
and it occurs throughout the better known portions of Africa,
including Madagascar, except only in the northern and northwestern
portions lying between Egypt and the mouth of the
Senegal. In the Berlin Museum list it is recorded as coming
from Arabia also, but v. Heuglin doubts the fact.
The above review proceeds on the assumption, now generally
admitted to be correct (though Swinhoc affirmed that the
African species differed in having the chin bare) that R. cafiensis
and R. bcngalcnsis are identical. There is yet another supposed
species, R. australis, certainly very close to our bird, and
perhaps identical, and if so (which, however, I hardly anticipate)
Australia also must be included in the range of the
Painted Snipe.
ALTHOUGH PERMANENT residents of the major portion of the
Empire, and only regular migrants to the drier, north-western
regions of India, yet even elsewhere Painted Snipe move
about a great deal, and, except perhaps in some exceptional
localities, arc rarely to be found in exactly the same places at
different seasons.
This follows, however, naturally from the character of the
localities which they chiefly affect, vie., moist, but not flooded,
ground, covered with abundant and thick cover of rush or grass,
and if interspersed with bushes and thin scrub so much the better.*
Of course you find them in marshes where there is plenty of
water lying about, and in flooded land ; but you will always, I
think, if you look closely, discover that the exact spots whence
they are actually flushed arc in such cases patches slightly
raised above the general level ; and, though moist, still free from
water. I once found half a dozen of these birds in a particular
spot, and saw them there week after week for several weeks.
A heavy X'mas shower fell, and the next day not a bird was
to be seen, though their favourite haunt was only about two
inches under water. Again, later, they (or other birds of this
species) returned to this same spot as soon as the water had
* Major C. Mclnroy too writes :—
" I have noticed in Mysore that the Painter is exceedingly partial to longish
grass amongst date trees, where the ground is slightly damp."
subsided, and remained there for many weeks until the ground
began to dry up.
One week only a pair were left; the next, which was
quite at the close of February, none were to be seen. The
ground had become too dry, and thereafter, though the
rush and grass still looked green and fresh, not a Painter
was ever seen there up to the middle of April when I left.
It follows that with such prcdclictions they must necessarily
change their quarters a great deal. The places are few and
far between in India, where ground and cover keep in exactly
the condition they prefer throughout the entire year. Not
only do they have to move about from place to place within
the same district, but whole regions* (like many parts of Lower
Bengal) become too water-logged for them during the rains,
or (like many parts of the N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Rajputana,
&c.,) too dry for them, a month or so after the rains have
ceased. People often think that this species does not occur or
is rare in their neighbourhoods, simply because they have
not looked for them in proper situations, or in situations such
as they affect at those particular times when these are in the
state essential to .attract them.*f-
When breeding,—and that, as I shall explain further on, they
seem to be in one place or another during a great portion
of the year—they arc always found in pairs, the two birds
sticking very close to each other, and to the nest. When not
breeding, they are commonly found fairly close together, but
hardly in what we should call flocks, in parties consisting of
one or more families, these latter comprising, as a rule, two old
* " I have seen and shot this bird almost all over Southern India south of the
12° North Latitude. In the dry districts it comes in during the cold weather and
remains till all the swamps and fields arc dry, but in well-watered portions,
like Tinnevelly, Tanjore, Malabar, and parts of Coimbatore, I have shot them throughout
the year.
" 1 have never found the nest, but heard of one being taken near Erode.
" They are common in the inland districts, but rare towards Madras, where
they are caught in large numbers for the sake of their skins, which are exported
to China. The bird fetches from two to four annas each in the Madras market, while
the preserved skins are sold at from eight annas to one rupee.
" They are snared with horse-hair nooses by the Madras fowlers."—A. Theobald.
+ Thus Mr. Reid at one time wrote to me, speaking of the Lucknow Division :—
"The Painted Snipe is not by any means numerous. I have not seen or killed
one for over two years, but before the drought of 1877, I used to shoot them pretty
often."
Later again he said : " I write to supplement what I said about the Painted Snipe.
"Yesterday, the 16th of June, I took what I may call my ' usual' trip down the
Goomtee, and was very much surprised to find that Painted Snipe were very abundant
amongst the rushes and weeds all along the sides of the river. They seemed
to me to be quite tame and familiar, frequenting patches of cover often quite close
to where Dhobies were at work They literally swarmed in quieter nooks- It struck
me at the time that they were breeding, but after dissecting six females on the spot
with the same result, I came to the conclusion that it was too early (by at least 15
days) to expect to find eggs."
Of course the banks of a stream, like the Gomtec, could never remain long exactly
as they like their ground, and these birds soon passed on, doubtless to breed further
north.