CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMOK BIRDS. 51 



never make out clearly that they had ever obtained a specimen, although 

 this perhaps is not at all conclusive, or going to prove that they had 

 not shot such a bird, when we consider the carelessness of preserving 

 specimens which is always observable amongst real sportsmen who are not 

 naturalists. This I have seen often instanced by drawing the attention of 

 such men to the subject, by begging for the first clean-killed bird they 

 got, and this at once produced something worth having, which would 

 doubtless otherwise have been crammed in amongst a congeries worthy of 

 a battle-field, and so made unpresentable and unpresentable; but I quite 

 excuse this, for even with the greatest care, it is difficult to prevent the 

 feathers getting hurt; the best thing I know of is a sheet of cotton wool, 

 which weighs nothing, and an old silk handkerchief, first plugging the 

 throat and nostrils with the wool, and wrapping the bird in it and then 

 in the handkerchief, it cannot come to much harm. 



Snipes, the Heather-bleater or Whole Snipe, breed a good deal in the 

 southern counties of England, more indeed I am confident than people 

 generally imagine; I am speaking now of those localities which are in 

 summer comparatively deserted by them; for their habits are quiet and 

 their nesting recondite; but an old man whom I knew in old times, and 

 who was a regular peat-cutter and bog-trotter, often discovered their nests, 

 and brought me the eggs, which bore a great resemblance to those of the 

 Lapwing, (Vanellus cristatus,) and not very inferior in size;* in fact, unex 

 pectedly large for the size of the bird. 



The Jack Snipe, (Scohpax gallinula,) arrives in the autumn in the inland 

 bogs with great regularity; and I remember my brother remarking that on 

 the same day in each year, (it was, I think, the 19th. of September,) he 

 always first saw and generally shot a Jack Snipe, which did not last 

 him the autumn to pop at, as it is said to do some people. 



Quails, (Coturnix vulgaris,) are very uncertain in their visits, and can 

 hardly be regarded as common birds in England. I have found them in 

 all parts of the country — on the heath, in cover, and in the stubble, and 

 always singly, although I remember a gentleman shooting two brace in one 

 day, in the parish of Langley, Bucks., not far from Uxbridge. They have 

 much the appearance of a Squeaker, or very young Partridge. I have often 

 seen them for sale in Hungerford Market, London, both dead and alive, the 

 latter, no doubt, an importation from the continent. 



I find that I have so much still to say on this general subject, that I 

 must conclude for the present. 



Pembroke Square, Kensington, January, 1857. 



(To be continued.) 

 * This is quite a mistake.— F. 0. Morris. 



