JACK SNIPE. 337 
us. Once as my attention was directed, whilst re-loading, 
to the numerous borings in the marsh, I saw a jack squat- 
ting down, in a little tuft of grass, within a yard or two of 
my feet, and in spite of my two barrels having just been 
discharged,* it rose only when the man walked straight 
up to it. Another curious incident, which occurred at 
the same time, particularly marks the occasion in my 
mind, The marsh in question was bordered on one side 
by a wide drain, having a slightly raised bank, covered 
with coarse grass and sedges, and ata particular spot, 
close to the water’s edge, [ had marked down a jack 
and felt quite sure of finding it again. On walking up 
to the very tuft where I had seen it alight, I stamped 
my foot, and instantly, to my utter astonishment, a 
magnificent cock pheasant rose from under the bank, 
and evidently by the noise he made was as much taken 
aback as myself at our unlooked for meeting. I am 
not ashamed to own that I was nowhere with my first 
barrel, but the second landed the unlucky truant from 
some neighbouring coverts, safely on the opposite 
marsh. What became of that jack snipe I cannot say. 
In days of belief in sorcery and witchcraft I should 
probably have decided that it changed into a cock 
pheasant on purpose to bother me. All I know is that 
I never saw it again. 
By many authors, and even by so accurate an 
observer as Macgillivray, the jack snipe has been termed 
solitary, but although single birds may be found here 
and there, a careful search would, in all probability, 
discover one or more close by; at least such has inva- 
riably been my own experience. Unlike the “ whole” 
* T once flushed a “ whole” snipe from under a wooden railway 
bridge, over which a heavy train had just passed, shaking the 
whole edifice; yet the snipe lay there undisturbed, until my 
footsteps alarmed it, when it started from under the bridge, 
and I dropped it on the “line” with a snap shot. 
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