886 SNIPE 



The third species of which any details can here be given is the 

 Jack/ or Half-Snipe, ;S'. gallinnla, one of the smallest and most 

 beautifully coloured of the group. Without being so numerous as the 

 common or full tSnipe, it is of frequent occurrence in Great Britain 

 from September to April (and occasionally both earlier and later) ; 

 but it breeds only, so far as is known, in northern Scandinavia and 

 Russia; and the first trustworthy information of that subject was 

 obtained by Wolley in June 1853, when he found several of its nests 

 near Muonioniska in Lapland.- Instead of rising wildly as do most 

 of its allies, it generally lies so close as to let itself be almost trodden 

 upon, and then takes wing silently, to alight at a short distance (if 

 it escai)e the gun), and to return to the same place on the morrow. 

 In the breeding-season, however, it is as noisy and conspicuous as 

 its larger brethren Avhile executing its aerial evolutions. 



As a group the Snipes are in several respects highly specialized, 



but here there is only 

 s})ace to mention the 

 sensitiveness of the 

 bill, which, though to 

 some extent notice- 

 able in many Sand- 



BiLL OF Skipe from the side and beneath. iiTTir^i^c. 4^ ;„ Q„,",,„ 



,..,,, . , PIPERS is in bnipes 



(After Swamson.) . ^ 



carried to an extreme 

 by a number of filaments, belonging to the fifth pair of nerves, 

 which run almost to the tip, and open immediately under the soft 

 cuticle in a series of cells that give this portion of the surface of 

 the premaxillaries, when exposed, a honeycomb-like appearance. 

 Thus the bill becomes a most delicate organ of sensation, and by 

 its means the bird, while probing for food, is at once able to dis- 

 tinguish the nature of the ol)jects it encounters, though these are 

 wholly out of sight. So far as is known, the sternum of all the 

 Snipes, except the Jack-Sni^^e, departs from the normal Limicoline 

 formation, a fact which tends to justify the removal of that species 

 to a separate genus, Linmocri/ptcs. 



The so-called Painted Snipes, forming the genus ItiMratula, or 

 Bhynchcea, demand a few words. Three species are now admitted, 

 natives respectively of South America, Africa and southern Asia, 



^ Though tliis word is cleai'ly not intended as a nickname, such as is tlie 

 prefix \^liich custom has ai>plied to many birds, one can oidy guess at its origin 

 or meaning. It may be, as in Jackass, an indication of sex, for it is a popular 

 belief that the Jack-Snipe is the male of the common species ; or, again, it niay 

 refer to the comparatively small size of the bird, as the "jack" in the game of 

 bowls is the smallest of the IidwIs used, and as fishermen call the smaller Pikes 

 Jacks. Possibly this may account for Curlew- Jack as a name of the Whimiuiki,. 



- His account was published by Hewitson in May 1855 [Eygs Br. Birds, ed. 

 3, ii. i>ix 356-358). 



