576 JACK SNIPE. 



Snipe — during winter. At that season it also visits North Africa 

 and Egypt, where it sometimes remains as late as May ; and ascends 

 the Nile to Abyssinia. In Asia it breeds on the tundras of Siberia 

 as far north as lat. 70°, though not found nesting in the valley of the 

 Yenesei ; while on passage it visits Japan and even Formosa in the 

 cold season, as well as Tenasserim and the rest of the Indian region, 

 Persia, and Turkestan ; and it has been obtained in August on the 

 Sayan Mountains (at 8,000 ft.) in North-western Mongolia. 



For the first details of the nidification of this, as of many other 

 species, we are indebted to Wolley, who found the bird breeding in the 

 latter half of June on the marsh of Muonioniska in Lapland. The 

 nests are described as being loosely made of little pieces of grass, 

 equisetum, and a few old leaves of the dwarf birch, placed in a dry 

 sedgy or grassy spot close to more open swamp. The Jack Snipe 

 weighs about 2 ozs., yet its 4 eggs weigh more than i\ oz. These, 

 so disproportionate to the size of the bird, are yellowish-olive, spotted 

 and streaked with brown, the latter colour being somewhat more 

 predominant than in those of the Common Snipe, while they are 

 rather smaller, averaging 1-5 by i in. During the breeding-season 

 the Jack Snipe makes a ' drumming ' noise, which Wolley compared 

 " to the cantering of a horse over a hard road : it came in fours 

 with a similar cadence, and a like clear yet hollow sound." The food 

 consists of larvae of beetles and other insects, always accompanied 

 by a little grit. A continuance of severe weather does not seem to 

 impoverish this bird, and between the fattest of several Jacks and 

 the leanest of some Common Snipes, weighed the same day, I have 

 found a difference of only \ oz. in favour of the larger species. 



The adult male in breeding-plumage exhibits a large amount of 

 metallic-green and purple on the upper parts ; the female is, on 

 average, a trifle larger in size but not so bright in colour. In winter 

 the reddish-brown of the upper parts is obscured by a tinge of grey ; 

 while in the young bird the green and purple reflections are wanting. 

 Varieties are very uncommon, but a melanism shot near Staines was 

 recorded by the late Mr. F. Bond. Length 7-5 in. (bill 1-5), wing 

 4-25 in. The tail-feathers are only 12 in number, for which reason, 

 supplemented by the fact that there are two notches on each side of 

 the posterior margin of the breast-bone — the Common Snipe having 

 but one — this species has been placed apart by some ornithologists 

 in the genus Limnocryptes. 



The Red-breasted Snipe, which followed this species in the 

 ist Edition, is now removed to p. 621, before the Godwits. 



