. Indian sporting birds . eAustralian painted snipe, which otherwise differs little fromours. Our bird has an enormous range, being found nearly allover Africa and southern and eastern Asia; in fact, it isone of the most widely distributed of the usually non-migratorybirds. It is curious that so remarkable and easily recognized abird should be so little distinguished by native names ; but itis called Ohari in Nepal, and Mailulan by Tamils, while inCeylon the Cingalese distinguish it appropriately as BajaKaswatuwa, the king snipe. Next to the snipes the godwits may be considered. Blackballed Go
. Indian sporting birds . eAustralian painted snipe, which otherwise differs little fromours. Our bird has an enormous range, being found nearly allover Africa and southern and eastern Asia; in fact, it isone of the most widely distributed of the usually non-migratorybirds. It is curious that so remarkable and easily recognized abird should be so little distinguished by native names ; but itis called Ohari in Nepal, and Mailulan by Tamils, while inCeylon the Cingalese distinguish it appropriately as BajaKaswatuwa, the king snipe. Next to the snipes the godwits may be considered. Blackballed Godwit. Limosa belgica^ Gudera, Hindustani. With the build of a miniature stork of a pigeons size,the legs, neck and bill all being long, and with the contrastbetween its short, pied tail, black at the tip and white at thebase, with its drab plumage as it rises, this godwit is a con-spicuous bird, and ought to be well known to sportsmen. Thesize mentioned above is only approximate, for this is one of * csgocephala on ■l BLACK-TAILED GODWIT 97 the most variable birds ia dimensions that exist, if indeed itdoes not surpass any in this respect. Weights run from lessthan half a pound in the case of the smallest males to withinan ounce of a pound for big females, the birds of this sex runningfar larger than their mates, though there are plenty of big maleslarger than many females. The bill of the godwit is not sharp like a storks, but bluntand overshot at the tip, much like a woodcocks, though notsensitive ; one would never expect a bird with this type of beakto eat grain, yet this species is quite as fond of grain as anypartridge or duck, and feeds by preference on rice wheneverit gets the chance, as well as on millet and grass seed. Itdoes, however, also devour worms, grubs, shrimps and shell-fish, the ordinary sort of food one would expect a long-billedwader to take, in fact. Whatever the food is, the birdsflavour is uncommonly good, and Hume considered rice-fattened plump
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