The Snipes. 483 



by Wolley. He says : — " I scarcely like 

 to tell you about the Jack-Snipe, anything 

 I can say must be so poor an expression 

 of my exultation at the finding of this 

 long-wished-for egg. It was on the 

 17th of June, 1853, in the great marsh 

 of Muonioniska, that I first heard the 

 Jack-Snipe, though at the time I could 

 not at all guess what it was; an extra- 

 ordinary sound, unlike anything I had 

 ever heard before, I could not tell from 

 what direction it came, and it filled me 

 with a curious surprise ; my Finnish 

 interpreter thought it was a Capercally, 

 and at that time I could not contradict 

 him, but soon I found that it was a small 

 bird gliding at a wild pace at a great 

 height over the marsh. I know not how 

 better to describe the noise than by 

 likening it to the cantering of a horse in 

 the distance, over a hard, hollow road ; 

 it came in fours, with a similar cadence, 

 and like a clear yet hollow sound. The 

 same day we found a nest which seemed 

 to be of a kind unknown to me. The 

 next morning I went to Karto Uoma with 

 a good strength of beaters. I kept them, 

 as well as I could, in a line, — myself in 

 the middle, my Swedish travelling com- 

 panion on one side, and the Finn talker 



