124 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The Common. Full, or Whole Snipe, names by which the 

 sportsman distinguishes it from the Jack and Great Snipe, is a 

 bird of moor and marsh, perhaps most remarkable for its very 

 long, sensitive bill. Its shot-battered corpse is a familiar object 

 in the poulterer's shop, but few trouble to identify the species 

 of a table bird. A bird in the hand, provided that it is neither 

 mutilated nor moulting, can be told by its tail ; the Great Snipe 

 has sixteen tail feathers, and the greater part of the outer ones 

 is white towards the tip ; the Common Snipe has the basal 

 portion of its fourteen feathers black, and the tips red, only the 

 outer pair having white ends, and all the feathers are marked 

 with a subterminal black band. The twelve feathers of the 

 Jack, especially the central pair, are pointed ; they are dark 

 brown with rufous margins. In the field such distinctions are 

 seldom of value, but the behaviour of the Common Snipe differs 

 from that of the Jack. When disturbed, it dashes into the air 

 with a loud, harsh call — scaap — and immediately begins a rapid 

 zigzag flight, which often saves its life ; its dodges are irregular 

 and not always in the same plane ; when just out of gunshot it 

 straightens its route, but does not alight until some distance 

 away. The Jack, on the other hand, often rises silently, and 

 its call, if uttered, is not so loud ; its turns and twists are more 

 moderate, and it drops into cover within a few yards ; it may 

 be put up again and again. 



The Snipe spends the day in some marsh or thick cover near 

 water, and at dusk " flights " like a duck. One by one, or in 

 " wisps," as the small parties are called, the birds shoot up 

 from the marsh, calling, and vanish in the dusk, making for 

 muddy ditches, the edges of ponds, oozy bogs, or other spots, 

 where, probmg the mud, it can feel for worms. The slightly 

 swollen, pitted tip of the long bill is a wonderfully useful and 

 flexible pair of forceps ; the last inch of the upper mandible can 

 be raised or depressed at will. Worms are the main food, 

 though insects and, in hard weather, some seeds are eaten. 



