236 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



well on your bird, and let your gun take care of itself/^ In archery, 

 if you look at the point of your arrow (a mistake very prevalent, 

 and hard at times to guard against) you. will never hit the target. 

 At cricket, if you think about the position of your hands you will 

 never field the ball. The eye must be rivetted on the object in 

 motion, and then the hand, bow, or gun — as the case may be — will 

 take care ot itself, and come into the right place by magic. 



Scolopax Gallinula. " Jack Snipe.'''' Quite common amongst us, 

 at the right times, and in the right places. They have, from their 

 diminutive size and jerky flight, the character of being very hard 

 to kill ; but if your shot be small enough, and yourself cool 

 enough, they need not be so. They lie so close generally that you 

 actually ail-but tread upon them ere they rise ; and they are generally 

 missed from the gun not being cool and collected. Not infrequently 

 a dog will snap them as they rise from under his nose, they lie so 

 closely. I have known it to be so on two occasions. I once found 

 four of them all congregated together, but they are not generally 

 sociable birds, and you rarely flush more than one of them at a 

 time. They are most amusing little birds; and if you miss them 

 they will obligingly keep on pitching within a hundred yards or so, 

 so that they seem to chaff you with a " Never mind, better luck 

 next time.'^ I have often seen four or five barrels go ofi" at Mr. 

 '^ Jack,'' who has at last escaped scot free, by pitching on the 

 further side of the river, where you could not follow him. 



Machetes Pugnax. " The Ruff'' ; his partner being called the 

 " Reeve." It is one of the most curious birds of its order we have, 

 both as to the shape and colouring of the plumage of the males in 

 the breeding season. The ruff round their necks and heads, from 

 whence their name, vary in the most indescribable manner : they 

 vary literally from glossy black to pure white, from bright rufous 

 colour to every conceivable shade of brown. Some are plain, some 

 spotted, some quite regularly striped, and you rarely, if ever, find 

 two quite alike. They are nothing like so frequent as they used to 

 be. A good specimen, in dark black summer plumage, was killed 

 by a Mr. Ward, at Ringwood, on July 3rd, 1869. Six were pro- 

 cured in the Christchurch district in September, 1875, and Hart 



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