84 The Scottish Naturalist. 



respect as superior to those of the common Snipe as the Jack's plumage exceeds 

 in brightness of markings its congener's. 



Several persons in my neighbourhood, who are interested in its ornithology, have 

 met with the Jacksnipe every spring, during May, June, and even later, though 

 they have not yet found its eggs. This is nowise wonderful in connection 

 with a species not generally numerous, and whose habits render it the very re- 

 verse of conspicuous. But I heard a report of young, nearly full-fledged, found 

 in a bog not far from Aberdeen. One cannot fix the time of breeding on the 

 authority of one nest. I have found the new-hatched young of the common 

 Snipe as early as the 30th of April, and as the eggs of that species take fifteen 

 days to incubate (as I have ascertained by observation), the full number must 

 have been laid on April 15th at latest. Most common Snipes, however, breed 

 rather later — May being the month when most nests are found. They are 

 got during that month and June, and I once found one at the end of the latter 

 month, which would seem to indicate that the birds breed twice. 



I am not aware that the male Jacksnipe buzzes or hums in spring and summer, 

 like the male of the common Snipe ; at least all the birds I ever saw doing this 

 were males of S. Gtillinago. Indeed, the Jacksnipe's muteness is characteristic. 

 It almost always rises without any call, though I once or twice heard it utter a 

 slight note, weaker than what is uttered by the common Snipe when flushed, 

 almost on every occasion, even when it quits its eggs. I may add that I can 

 be under no mistake as to the eggs described, which were not those of the 

 common Snipe, with which I am well acquainted, and which I find every year. 

 The different eggs could never be confounded by those who had seen both. 

 The difference in size alone would be distinction, and there is much in the shape, 

 though it be difficult to define it clearly in words. The eggs of the common 

 Snipe have more the elongate form, with uniform gradual taper from a little below 

 the large end to the smaller extremity, that distinguishes in a more exaggerated 

 degree than of the Curlew. The tapering in the Jacksnipe's eggs, as already de- 

 scribed, is more sudden, and there is a contraction, or sort of neck, before the ex- 

 tremity is reached. Common Snipe's eggs vary much, but I never saw any that 

 had their ground colour of that blue olive approaching to sea green that the 

 Jacksnipe's had. In the common Snipe's egg the ground colour is rather more 

 of a dun, tinged with greenish yellow, or a sort of yellowish clay colour, in the 

 palest varieties. The dark markings, too. in the eggs of 5. gallinago are less 

 defined, more in large coalescing masses, always densest toward the large end. 



Grasshopper Warbler (Sibilatrix locustella). — I never but once met with 

 this species. It occurred in a cover of small stunted Scots-firs, rank heath, and 

 whins mixed, in Thorn's Forest, near Kintore. I got the most transient glimpse 

 of the bird while it was alive, but my attention was directed to it by its strange 

 call — like that of a Shrew Mouse, but much louder. As it was killed with No. 

 6 shot, it was too much battered to be of any use as a specimen, but it exactly 

 answered to the description in Mr. M 'Gillivray's Manual as also to a drawing 

 I had of Sibilatrix locustella. 



Pied Fly-catcher {Muscicapa atricapilla). — An individual was seen on the 

 8th of May, 1869, and two or three days after, in the grounds of Manar, near 

 Inverurie. 



