CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS OF SUFFOLK. 149 



Jack Snipe, Gallinago gallinula (L.). 



S. and W. Cat. 47. Catalogued only. 



Districts all. Recorded as common at Yarmouth (Paget), at Aldeburgh, 

 especially during autumn and early spring (Hele), about Shotley (Kerry), 

 at Sudbury (King); numerous in Nov., 1883, about Rattlesden (D. 

 Parker); sparingly at Leiston, once as late as May 4, 1877 (Rope in Z. ), 

 Bealings (Moore) ; Cockfield (C. B. !), and Gazeley (Tearle). It has been 

 very rarely observed in the summer months, Mr. C. Girdlestone had 

 one brought him in June, 1822 ; in June, 1824, he himself saw a 

 pair on Bradwell common, and about two years after, another specimen 

 was shot. Mr. Miller says he has had Jack's eggs brought to him, they 

 were smaller and of a more elliptical shape than those of the Common 

 Snipe, which they otherwise exactly resemble (Paget Y. 9). It is supposed 

 to have bred at Oakley ; it has been seen there during the last two or 

 three summers, and a young one was picked up in the summer of 1881 

 (W. Clarke in litt.). Col. Leathes gives an interesting account of its 

 having bred at Herringfleet. Early in August, 1869, his gamekeeper 

 announced that during the summer some Jack Snipe had bred in one of 

 the marshes, and that he had often flushed the Jack from the nest during 

 the season, adding that the young were now strong and healthy on the 

 wing ; Col. Leathes went with him to the marshes, and in no long time 

 shot fifteen ; he does not think it possible that these birds could have 

 migrated, as they do not appear, as a rule, before the middle of October, 

 or early in November ; he never knew of a flight as early as " the middle 

 of August " on his own Snipe ground, when Lubbock says they migrate to 

 Norfolk * He was afterwards informed by the late Mr. Talman, Rector of 

 the next parish of Uaddiscoe, Norfolk, that without doubt Jack Snipe 

 had bred in the marshes there more than once (Col. Leathes in litt. and 

 UnnaturaV Nat. Hist. Notes, by H. M. L. 64-66. Lond. 1884.). The 

 evidence taken as a whole of the Jack Snipe's having bred in Suffolk is 

 certainly strong, and cannot lightly be put aside. At the same time, 

 it does not amount to an absolute demonstration ; the examples mentioned 

 by Col. Leathes are perhaps the best ; yet it is possible that the nests 

 found by the keeper may have been those of the Common Snipe, and that 

 the Jack Snipes shot by Col. Leathes may have migrated from the 

 Continent. 



The Jack Snipe appears to be less numerous than the 

 Common Snipe in Suffolk. Mr. H. Saunders (in Yarrell 

 iii., 353, 4th Ed.) says that it may safely be stated that 

 there is not one single well-authenticated instance of the 

 Jack Snipe's having bred in the British Islands. It usually 

 arrives in England in September and departs in April. 



* Lubbock says: On the 1st of August Barton Fen, Fauna of Norf. 120 (Ed. 

 1883, I saw a Jack Snipe shot iipon 1879). 



