SCOI.OPACID.^. 



559 





THE JACK SNIPE. 



Gallinago gallinula, Linnaeus. 



The Jack Snipe seldom appears in the British Islands before the 

 middle of September, and the heaviest arrivals take place in 

 October, at which time it sometimes strikes against lighthouses, 

 though with less frequency than the Common Snipe. Before its 

 departure northwards in April its plumage has assumed all the 

 bloom and brilliancy of the approaching nuptial period, while the 

 fact that a few individuals have been known to remain till late in 

 spring and even through the summer, has given rise to suppositions 

 that it might breed with us ; there is not, however, a single well- 

 authenticated instance of its having done so in any part of the 

 United Kingdom. During the colder months of the year its 

 distribution is general, and though less numerous than the Com- 

 mon Snipe, it is far more ubiquitous, while exhibiting a marked 

 preference for certain localities. 



In summer this species inhabits Scandinavia, especially to the 

 north of the Arctic circle, and m Western Russia it nests as far 

 south as St. Petersburg, though east of Archangel it appears to be 

 unfrequent, and Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown did not 

 observe it on the Lower Petchora. Putting aside unsubstantiated 

 assertions respecting its supposed breeding below lat. 55°, it may 

 be described as a bird of passage over the remainder of the Con- 

 tinent, becoming very numerous in the south — in some years even 

 more so than the Common Snipe— during winter, at which season it 



