JACK SNIPE 105 



Food. — Probably consists mainly of worms, with a considerable 

 mixture of insects and some vegetable matter (seeds, etc.). Nau- 

 mann (1887) remarks that he has several times found grass seeds 

 in stomachs and believes that vegetable matter is taken as well as 

 insects and worms. Newstead records Coleoptera (3 cases), Mol- 

 lusca {Tellina and Helix, 2 cases), vegetable matter (grass, etc.), 

 sand, and pebbles. Cordeaux found fragments of fresh-water shells 

 and a few bivalves (Pisidia) , while Saxby met with plant fibers and 

 mud. 



Behavior and voice. — The jack snipe is an extremely silent bird, 

 and to a great extent, solitary, outside the breeding season. The 

 noises made during the nuptial flight have already been dealt with, 

 but it is characteristic of the species that when flushed, unlike the 

 common snipe, it nearly always rises in silence. Naumann, how- 

 ever, writes that on rare occasions, generally toward evening, a weak, 

 high-pitched note may be uttered, like "Kitz" or " Kutz" which he 

 compares to a bat's squeak. One may, however, put up twenty birds 

 one after another without hearing anything, though very rarely a 

 single " ahtch " is uttered, much more softly than the corresponding 

 note of the common snipe. On being flushed it dashes off quickly 

 with unsteady flight, but pitches again before rising to any height, 

 and, except on migration or on its breeding ground, usually flies low. 



Field marks. — Its solitary habits and small size are the best field 

 characters, combined with the fact that it is not shy and usually 

 rises at very short range, so that one gets a good view of it before it 

 pitches again at no great distance, where it can be flushed again. 

 The almost invariable absence of any note on rising is very charac- 

 teristic. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Breeding range. — Scandinavian Lapland and Finland south to 

 about latitude 64°. In Germany it is said to have bred in various 

 localities from Schleswig Holstein to East Prussia, but there is no 

 doubt that most of these records, if not all, are not, and can never be, 

 satisfactorily authenticated. It does, however, breed in the Baltic 

 Republics (Estonia and Latvia) and apparently in North Poland, 

 while in Russia it breeds on the tundra south to the Governments of 

 Perm, Kazan, Vologda, Jaroslav, Vladimir, Orel, Tula, and Tver. 

 In Asia, though absent from the extreme north of Siberia, it is 

 found in the Arctic Zone south to Tobolsk and north to the Bogan- 

 ida (lat. 70°), while eastward it ranges to the Kolyma delta. 



Winter range. — While a few birds remain in favorable localities 

 or mild weather at short distances south of their breeding quarters, 

 the main body migrates through Europe south to the countries bor- 

 dering the Mediterranean and its islands (Balearic Isles, Corsica, 

 Sardinia, Malta, Sicily, Ionian Isles, Crete, Cyprus, etc.). In Africa 



