SNIPE are birds belonging to the family Scolopacidm, sub-families Scolopacium, Limosince, Numeninm, Tringinm, Phalaropinm, and Totaninal. The species of the Scolopacinse which receive the name of snipes, may be thus shown .
Scolopacidm.
Sub-Fant. Scolopacinm, Snipes.
• Scolopax rusticola, Linn., the woodcock, all India. S. saturata, Horsfield, Java.
S. minor, Gmelin, America.
Gallinago nemoricola, Hoag., wood snipe, solitary snipe, all India.
G. solitaria, Brody., Himalayan solitary snipe.
G. stenura, Tenyrn., pin-tailed snipe, all India.
G. scolopacinus, Bonap., common snipe, all northern latitudes.
G. gallinula, Linn., jack snipe, all northern latitudes. Rhynchma Bengalensis, Linn., painted snipe.
Gallinago scolopacinus (Scolopax gallinago) is the common snipe of Europe, Asia, North Africa, and is very common in India.
Gallinago gallinula (Scolopas gallinula), the jack snipe of Europe, Asia, Barbary, is common in India.
Both these are migratory, coming over tbe Himalaya in October, but the Gallinago stemma snipe precedes them, though few sportsmen dis criminate it from the common British snipe, which makes its appearance somewhat later. G. stenura is nevertheless a different bird, at once distin guished by having a set of curious pin-feathers n each side of its tail ; whereas the British snipe. which is eqnally abundant in India, Itas a broad fan-shaped tail, as unlike that of the other as can well be. The pin-tailed is the common snipe of the Malay countries, and is unknown in Europe, excepting as an exceedingly rare straggler from its proper habitat, the east. The double snipe is the Gallinago major of Europe, distinct from the two species of large or solitary snipes of the Hima laya, G. solitaria and G. nemoricola. The solitary snipe is the Gallinago solitaria. It is found throughout India, northwards to the Himalaya, where, in the• lonely glen, by the side of the mountain torrent, where the pine grows tall and dense, and the sun's rays seldom penetrate, may be found the great snipe Gallinago solitaria, from the lower to the upper ranges of the forest region.
There are two distinct species in the Himalaya commonly confounded under the name 'solitary snipe,' and both are very different from the Gallin ago major of Europe and Northern Asia, which has not been observed in British India. Of the other Indian kinds, one (Gallinago solitaria of Hodgson) is peculiar to the Himalaya, and to this species the designation 'solitary snipe ' should be restricted. It is readily known by its white belly
and yellowish legs,—wings longer, straighter, and more acuminated than in tbe other, and tbe upper plumage more minutely speckled, with the pale linear markings on the back narrower, and the tail also longer. Average measurement, 12i inches by 20 in expanse of wings ; closed wing 63 inches, and tail 3 inches. Weight, 5 to 6 oz., or even more.
The other (G. nemoricola of Hodgson) should be distinguished as the wood snipe, and is more of a woodcock in appearance and habit, though keeping to the outskirts of the jiingle. Though principally a Himalayan species, it is not rare in the Neilgherries, and it has been met with in various parts of the country, and in the Cal cutta provision bazar. This species has blue legs, and the under parts are uniformly barred throughout; the general colouring dark, and the markings bold ; the wings more bowed and rounder than in the other, and the tail shorter.. It is only found,' remarks Mr. Hodgson, in the haunts of the woodcock, with this difference in its manners, that it is averse to the interior of woods.' Length, 123 inches by 18 in expanse of wings ; dosed wing 53 inches, and tail 2-k inches. 1Veight, 51 to 63 oz. and upwards.
The grass snipe is also known as the pin-tailed snipe (G. stenura) ; it is distinguished by a duller plumage than the common British snipe, and especially by the curious series of pin-feathers on either side of its tail; whereas the other has a fan-shaped tail, altogether different in form. The pin-tailed is the common snipe of the Malay countries, but not of Australia, as has been stated ; the Australian (G. Australis) being a much larger bird, with intermediate form of tail, as in the solitary and wood snipes of British India. In Bengal it is the more abundant species, early and late in the season, tho common or lititi-lt snipe is during the height of tho cold weather ; but so early as tho 30th August ono wa.s found in a bundle of pin-tailed snipes brought from the Calcutta bazar, and subsequently the pin tailed only in considerable abundance. Nothing is more easy than to distinguish the two species by the shape of the tail, and a practised eye will generally tell them at the first glance ; yet very .few sportsmen in India are aware of the difference.