JACK-SNIPE 87 



little jack ; curiously enough, he has, like the king of our snipes, 

 the woodcock, only twelve tail-feathers, which, though the 

 ordinary number for birds in general, is very short allowance 

 for a snipe, as may be judged from what has been said about 

 other species. All these tail-feathers, by the way, are pointed, 

 but soft. More noticeable points, however, are the two cream- 

 coloured stripes on the head instead of the three commonly 

 found in snipes, and the marked sheen of green and purple on 

 the upper plumage, which makes this little fellow the hand- 

 somest of the true snipes. 



In flight the jack is notoriously distinct from snipes in 

 general ; he rises very straight, flickers like a butterfly, flies a 

 very short distance and — another curious likeness to the wood- 

 cock — drops as if shot just when one does not expect it. 



There is no doubt that, quite apart from the fact that the 

 bird is often overlooked and sometimes despised for its small- 

 ness, it is not nearly so common or so regular in its visita- 

 tions as the two stock snipes, pintail and fantail, nor is it so 

 widely distributed as these are. Between 1894 and 1902, the 

 years in which I lived in India, I only once found it common 

 in the Calcutta market, although Hume says in his time it was 

 brought in in thousands. Tickell and Mr. Baker, on the other 

 hand, found it rare there, and, as we were all observing at 

 different times, the inference is obvious that in some years, or 

 periods of years, this bird visits us in greater numbers than 

 in others, like so many other migratory species. It seems to be 

 rare in the North-west, and has only once been shot in the 

 Andamans. 



As its breeding range, which extends all across the northern 

 parts of the Old World, is to the north of that of our common 

 snipes, it is not surprising to find that it does not breed here, 

 but is merely a winter visitor, and has not been known to stay 

 later than April, though it may arrive by the end of August. 



When here it is very local, and a favourite haunt is closely 

 adhered to, another tenant occupying it if the incumbent for the 

 time being is killed, while it takes a lot of shooting at it to put 

 a bird off its home. According to Hume, it is particularly fond 

 of corners, whether formed by the embankment of a paddy- 



