JACK SNTPE. 353 



could hardly fly. This specimen was presented by Mr. 

 Girdlestone to Mr. Lubbock, and by him to Mr. Newcome, 

 and is still in the collection at Feltwell. " On the 1st 

 August, 1838," says Mr. Lubbock, " a Jack Snipe was shot 

 on Bolton fen in my presence, a perfectly healthy, good-con- 

 ditioned, well-plumaged bird. The man who shot it told 

 me that once, and only once, he had shot a Jack Snipe in 

 summer upon the same fen. He lives upon the broads and 

 marshes, and would doubtless have detected any, as he is 

 quite alive to the rarity of their appearance. The eggs which 

 have once or twice been offered to me as those of the Jack 

 Snipe were those of the Purre, and I regret that I can say 

 nothing in favour of its breeding in Norfolk. I think that 

 some worm or particular aliment must be wanting here in 

 summer, and that short diet made Mr. Girdlestone's Jack 

 Snipe so feeble and unhealthy. The one shot on the 1st 

 of August might be a migratory bird." 



In spite of various assertions respecting the supposed nest- 

 ing of the Jack Snipe in the British Islands, it may safely be 

 stated that there is not one single well-authenticated instance 

 of its doing so.* For thoroughly identified eggs of this, as 

 of so many other species, oologists are indebted to the per- 

 severance of the late Mr. John Wolley, from whose notes, 

 communicated to the late Mr. Hewitson (Eggs Brit. Birds, 

 Ed. 3, ii. p. 357) the following is taken : — " We had not been 

 many hours in the marsh [of Muonioniska, Lapland], when 

 I saw a bird get up, and I marked it down. The nest was 

 found. A sight of the eggs, as they lay untouched, raised 

 my expectations to the highest pitch. I went to the spot 

 where I had marked the bird, and put it up again, and again 



* The records are too numerous for notice : one writer in * The Field ' of 16th 

 September, 1865, gravely describes a nest containing nine eggs found in Oxford- 

 shire ! Mr. R. Gray (B. West Scot. p. 314) writes that he has " been informed 

 by Mr. Angus that in one instance, at least, a nest was discovered in Aberdeen- 

 shire by J. W. Stuart Burnett, of Keithall." At p. 318 we are told, without 

 any expression of scepticism, that this same fortunate observer found the nest 

 of the Curlew Sandpiper at Loch Spynie, near Elgin, the eggs being just chipped 

 by the young birds, which do not appear to have been preserved : a neglect to 

 be regretted, for both the downy stage of the latter species, and its eggs, are as 

 yet unknown to naturalists. 



VOL. III. Z Z 



