File:Indian sporting birds (1915) (14563899340).jpg

Identifier: indiansportingbi00finn (find matches)
Title: Indian sporting birds
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Finn, Frank, 1868-1932 Hume, Allan Octavian, 1829-1912 Marshall, Charles Henry Tilson, 1841-
Subjects: Birds -- India Game and game-birds -- India
Publisher: London : Francis Edwards
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
umber about the end ofAugust, and September is the usual month for the arrival ofthese birds, while in Southern India and Burma they are laterthan this. By the end of March most of them have usuallyleft again, but sometimes many stay on till the middle of April,and even up to June stray birds may occur even in the southof India. The Sub-Himalayan tracts are those which temptmost birds to stay late, being well wooded and well watered. During their stay fantail snipe are found all over the Empire,though their abundance varies in different localities, generallyinversely with that of the pintail; in the southern and easternprovinces of India and in Burma, for instance, this species is theless common of the two, and often quite scarce, while it is thecommon species of the north-west part of the countr3\ Snipein distribution and the dates of it are, of course, somewhataffected by weather ; heavy rains and prolonged cold weatherwill keep them longer in the north, delaying their spread to the
Text Appearing After Image:
lA>> COMMON SiNlPE 77 southern districts, and will likewise delay their final departurein the spring. Although not actually flocking, as so many waders do,they are sociable to the extent that several may generally befound in one locality, and in the arrival and departure of thegeneral body taking place simultaneously. Their chosen ground,as most people know, is swamp or marsh, wherever mud andlow grassy cover is available; paddy-fields naturally appeal tothem particularly. They resort to such places for food, whichconsists mostly, in the case of this species of snipe, of earth-worms, although other small forms of animal life are also taken.The food has to be found by feeling, and the way in whicha snipes bill, by its flexibility, will open at the tip, the end onlyof the upper jaw being raised to nip the worm, is a wonderfuladaptation to this mode of feeding, as is also the overshot structure, the upper bill ending in a sort of knob, back of whichthe lower fits at the tip, so as

Note About Images