remarkable that in spite of many well-authenticated
records of the occurrence of our bird in summer, and
many tales of the finding of its nest and eggs, there is
hitherto no proof that it has ever bred in any part of
the United Kingdom. The breeding-haunts of the Jack
Snipe are the morasses of the extreme north of Europe,
and an interesting account by John Wolley of the
discovery of several nests and eggs, and the behaviour of
the birds at their breeding-places in Lapland, is given
in the 4th ed. of ‘Yarrell.’ We are there informed
that during the breeding-season this bird makes a
“ drumming ” noise like the cantering of a horse over
a hard hollow road. In the district of Northamptonshire
with which I am best acquainted, the Jack Snipe
generally appears during the third week of September;
I have one record for August 15, but none for any day
between that and the 7th of the following month. The
latest lingerer of which I have heard in our neighbourhood
was sprung by one of our gamekeepers on
May 18th, 1891; with this solitary exception I have no
record of appearance after the end of April. This species
differs from the Common Snipe in its comparatively
solitary habits, its usual reluctance to take wing, its short
flights when disturbed, and its endurance of severe frosts
that drive the latter birds from all their favourite haunts.
A Jack Snipe flushed one day from a particular spot
may be found again there or thereabouts every day
throughout the winter months, unless relentlessly pursued,
and many amusing stories are told of a Jack Snipe
having afforded sport through the season to an unskilful
shooter. I cannot say that I considered these little
birds as specially difficult to hit in my shooting days,
but I have been repeatedly baulked by their dropping
to the ground again before they were far enough off' to
shoot at. As a rule the Jack Snipe loves good covert
of sedge or reeds, but I have not infrequently detected
him upon muddy spots almost entirely bare of vegetation.
On one occasion I flushed one of these birds
that, instead of pitching again within a short distance,
joined a flock of Peewits, and went quite out of sight
with them. I have found Jack Snipes in all the
Mediterranean marshes that I have visited, and was
surprised to find a few lingering in Cyprus late in
April; one of these birds uttered a low hollow note
that I had only heard once before in the case of a
“ Jack ” flushed on the bank of our river at home in the
month of March. Our bird ranges to the southward as
far as Ceylon and the Blue Nile in the winter. In
captivity the Jack Snipe thrives well if constantly supplied
with small earthworms, of which he will consume
almost incredible numbers.