560 JACK SNIPE. 



visits North Africa and Egypt, where it sometimes remains as late 

 as May ; it also ascends the Nile to Abyssinia. In Asia it breeds on 

 the tundras of Siberia as far north as lat. 70°, migrating to Japan 

 and even Formosa in the cold season, as well as to Tenasserim and 

 the rest of the Indian region, Persia, and Turkestan ; as yet, how- 

 ever, it has not been traced across the Pamir or other lofty ranges. 



For details of the nidification of this, as of many other species, 

 we are indebted to John Wolley, who found the bird breeding in 

 the latter half of June on the marsh of Muonioniska in Lapland. 

 The nests are described as being loosely made of little pieces of 

 grass, equiseiuin, and a few old leaves of the dwarf birch, placed in 

 a dry sedgy or grassy spot close to more open swamp. The Jack 

 Snipe weighs about 2 ozs., yet its 4 eggs weigh more than 15 oz. ; 

 these, so disproportionate to the size of the bird, are yellowish-olive 

 spotted and streaked with brown, the latter colour being somewhat 

 more predominant than in those of the Common Snipe ; they are 

 also rather smaller, averaging i'5 by i in. During the breeding- 

 season the Jack Snipe makes a ' drumming ' noise, which Wolley 

 likens '• to the cantering of a horse over a hard hollow road : it 

 came in fours with a similar cadence, and a like clear yet hollow 

 sound." Its food consists of larvae of insects, beetles &c., always 

 accompanied by a little grit. A continuance of severe weather does 

 not impoverish this bird, and between the fattest of several Jacks 

 and the leanest of some Common Snipes (weighed the same day) 

 I have found a difference of only \ oz. in favour of the larger species. 



The adult male in breeding-plumage exhibits a large amount of 

 metallic-green and purple on the upper parts ; the female is, on 

 the average, a trifle larger in size but not so bright in colour. In 

 winter the reddish-brown of the upper parts is obscured by a tinge 

 of grey ; while in the young bird the green and purple reflections 

 are wanting. Varieties are very uncommon, but a melanism shot 

 near Staines is recorded by Mr. F. Bond. Length of body 6 25 in. ; 

 wing 4"25 in. The tail-feathers are only 12 in number, for which 

 reason, supplemented by the fact that there are two notches on each 

 side of the posterior margin of the breast-bone — the Common Snipe 

 having but one — this species has been placed apart by some orni- 

 thologists in the genus I.imuocryptcs. 



