3 f JACK SNIPE. 
the beginning of March, while some stay till the first week i in 
April, or even remain till towards the end of that month. A 
few individuals have been met with here in summer, Mr. C. 
Girdlestone had one brought to him in June, 1828. This was 
in Norfolk; and im the year 1824, in May or June, he himself 
saw a pair on Bradwell Common, in that county. Two years 
later another was brought to him. On the Ist. of August, 
18338, one was shot on Barton Fen, where the person who 
shot it said that he had once killed one in summer. In the 
‘Zoologist,’ page 2830, three are stated to have been seen near 
Melbourne, in Derbyshire, by J. J. Briggs, Esq., on the 18th. 
of August, 1845. 
Lord Garvagh has seen this bird in summer, near Garvach, 
in the county of Londonderry, in Ireland, and obtained a nest 
with four eggs taken on a heathy hill near there. It was 
placed near a pool of water, and almost hid under a tuft of 
rushes. Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, has also given what he 
considered an authenticated instance of the Judcock breeding 
in Ireland. Mr. Hewitson has seen it on Prestwick Carr, in 
Northumberland, in the breeding time; and the Rev. G. Low,. 
in Orkney, at the same season. 
It lies very close, and is not easily put up without a dog 
indeed, even when set by a dog, it has been known to allow 
itself to be taken up by the hand. At some times, nevertheless, 
as on the beginning of a thaw after a frost, it appears more 
on the alert, getting up almost as readily as the larger species. 
When engaged with its nest, however, it is especially liable 
to be overlooked, allowing itself to be even walked over without 
moving. It is by no means shy of approaching houses. I 
have shot one in a field close to my own garden. It is a bird 
of solitary habits, and is mostly found singly, though two may 
frequent the same locality more or less nearly. It is equal 
as a delicacy for the table to the other species. 
Its flight is not very swift, but at the first rising of the 
bird, very unsteady. It has a habit of returning to, or nearly 
to, the same place from which it arose, and does not fly far 
before doing so. The wings are considerably bent in flying. 
It feeds on small worms, larve, and winter insects, and in 
search of the former probes with its bill in the soft mud or 
sand. It also swallows a little gravel with its food, and at 
times seeds, but the latter perhaps accidentally. 
It makes its nest on some grassy knoll, or among a tuft 
of rushes. 
