“If,” writes Eha, “you see a hundred dingy little birds, about the size of sparrows, all feeding together knee-deep in water, you may safely put them down as stints.”
A winter visitor to India; common on the coasts.
The Snipes
These being game birds are not dealt with in this volume. It must suffice that all four species—The Common, Full, or Fantail Snipe (Gallinago cœlestis), The Pintail (G. stenura), The Little Jack-Snipe (G. gallinula), and The Painted Snipe (Rostratula capensis), who is not a true snipe, all lie up closely in marshy ground or paddy fields in the daytime, and are not likely to be seen by the naturalist unless he is prepared to wade and flush them.
When flushed the first three go off at a great pace, either uttering no call or a short, sharp “psip.” The flight of the last species is comparatively feeble. (Illus. I. G. III., pp. 339, 359, etc.)
The Gulls, 196-199
Gulls are very familiar birds to every one who has performed the journey from England to India. The beautiful flight and the loud screams of these kites of the sea are indelibly impressed upon the memory of most Anglo-Indians.
These magnificent fliers are able to keep pace with the steamer for hours at a time without putting forth any effort. They saunter through the air in the wake of the ship, and when anything edible is thrown overboard they drop down and pick it off the water (they can swim like ducks), and having devoured what there is to be eaten, they fly on after the ship, and catch up in a few seconds.
They are largely scavengers. At sea-coast stations no sight is more familiar than that of a number of crows and gulls squabbling over the little fish, etc., that the fishermen throw away when overhauling their nets on the seashore. (Illus. B. D., p. 272; also B. B., p. 190.)
The four commonest gulls in India are: