226 TBE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



Carter further aclds^ " You will say ' Old fool, for letting it 

 go so cheap.' I have no doubt there is another in the neigh- 

 bourhood, as two countrymen told me they had put a Snipe 

 up out of the springhole in Mr. Halsted's marsh, as black as 

 a Starling, the Saturday after I killed mine. If I should get 

 the other the price would make me sing '^ O be joyful.' " I 

 never heard that the second was obtained. 



JACK SNIPE. 



Scolopax gallinula. 



Though not at all uncommon, the Jack Snipe is by no means 

 so abundant as the last described, and, unlike it, is never 

 found in wisps, seldom more than a pair being flushed 

 together, and it is far more usual to find it solitary. When 

 alarmed it lies very close, so much so that one day, having 

 no more ammunition, I obtained three, immediately under 

 the nose of my pointer, by dropping the muzzle of my gun 

 upon the bird, Avhich my readers will no doubt call a very 

 unsportsmanlike proceeding. When flushed, the Jack Snipe 

 seldom flies to any great distance, and does not twist about 

 like the Common Snipe. Many stories have been told of the 

 difiiculty of shooting it, but I must say that I think it is 

 even greater in the case of the Common Snipe, as the Jack 

 hangs in the wand, and, though flying sharply for a moment, 

 afterwards goes off very slowly, but if one waits till it is at a 

 reasonable distance it is very apt to drop just as you are 

 about to fire. It is found, not in the parts where the bog is 

 deepest, but on the drier spots around the little springholes 

 on its margin, or the runlets trickling down towards it. On 

 the Common I have so often mentioned, I always knew where 

 to find one, if any were there. 



