I40 



PLOVER GROUP 



addition to this peculiarity, the jack-snipe differs from its kin by the 

 lack of a pale longitudinal band on the crown of the head, and the 

 reduction of the tail-feathers, which are uniformly coloured, soft, and 

 pointed, to twelve. It is smaller than the common snipe, measur- 

 ing only 7^ inches in length, and weighing not more than 2^ oz. 

 The hen is slightly duller in colour than the cock, but does not 

 apparently exhibit that inferiority in size characteristic of the great 

 snipe. In winter the under-parts display a grey tinge ; immature 

 birds lack the green and jnn-ple reflections of the adults. 



The jack-snipe breeds in the far north of the eastern hemisphere, 

 mainly within the Arctic Circle, and passes the winter in temperate 

 and .southern Europe, northern Africa, and southern Asia, where it is 

 abundant in northern India, although scarce in Ceylon and Burma. 

 To the British Isles, where it remains from the end of September or 

 early in October till March or April, it is known .solely as a visitor ; 

 in the bogs of Ireland it is decidedly less numerous than the ordinary 

 snipe. As a rule, it is a solitary bird, with an affection for i:)articular 

 spots, and lies very close, rising when flushed with a peculiar fluttering 

 flight, quite silently, and soon settling again. In India, at any rate, 

 it affects places with thicker covert in the form of grass or reeds than 

 the ordinary snipe, and likewi.se prefers damp to wet situations in 



