482 Ma7mal of the Game Birds of India. 



Colonel Hawker gives the following 

 directions regarding Jack-Snipes : — " To 

 kill y^t-z^-snipes, a pointer that will stand 

 them is the greatest possible acquisition, 

 as they always lie so very close that you 

 are liable to walk past them. These litde 

 snipes are easiest killed in a light breeze, 

 or even calm weather, as in a gale of 

 wind they fly more like butterflies than 

 birds. Nothing teases a poking shot 

 worse than jack-snipes ; but to one who 

 has the knack of pitching and firing his 

 gun in one motion, they are, generally 

 speaking, not much worse to shoot than 

 other small birds, except in boisterous 

 weather. 



"The jack-snipes are the best eating 

 of all the tribe. ... As with pheasants, 

 the he7i is the best for the table, the cock 

 the prettiest bird for a present."* 



Wolley's account of the nidification of 

 the Jack-Snipe, as quoted by Hewitson, 

 still continues the best, and in fact the 

 only one. The eggs of this Snipe, in 

 the British Museum Collection, fifteen 

 in number, are all from Lapland and 

 Finland, and most of them were taken 



* I do not know how Colonel Hawker dis- 

 tinguished the cock from the hen of this species. 

 The plumage of the two sexes is quite the same. 



