238 MIGRATION. 



rounder, and loss pear-shaped than those of the Dunlin 

 (Tringa alpina) ; in colour they are grey olive - green, 

 marked with brown spots and blotches, especially at the 

 thicker ends. 



With the breeding habits of the Jack Snipe, however, 

 we (the public at least) arc at present but little acquainted. 

 We know not, for instance, if it be polygamous, or if it 

 confines itself to a single partner ; or whether the male, 

 like some other birds, deserts the female when she is 

 incubating, and whilst the chicks are young, and yet 

 rejoins his family at an after-period. All that we know 

 with certainty is (and for this I am indebted to Professor 

 Easch) that during the breeding season it " drums " when 

 in the air, in manner of the Common Snipe, and, according 

 to Mr. Dann, of the Solitary Snipe also. 



Though, doubtless, many Jack Snipes nest in Scandi- 

 navia, yet the principal breeding-grounds of these birds, 

 as also of the Woodcock and the Solitary Snipe, are, I 

 imagine, in countries far to the eastward — in Einland, 

 Russia, and Siberia. And I am confirmed in this opinion 

 by a perusal of the accompanying memorandum, kindly 

 furnished me by Mr. Thomas Carew Hunt, our late popular 

 Consul at Stockholm, Avho previously resided for a long 

 time in Russia : — " At Archangel, and all along the shores 

 of the White Sea, the Woodcock, Solitary Snipe, and Jack 

 Snipe, are common birds, differing in no respect from those 

 of England and central Europe. All of them are migratory 

 to Archangel, from the South in spring and the North in 

 autumn, and appear to breed at great distances above 

 Archangel, the latitude of which is 64° 40' N. 



"The first bird met with in autumn is the Solitary 

 Snipe, which is found during the latter part of August 

 in dry pastures near marshes, and disappears with the 

 first hard night-frosts in the latter part of September. 

 The Sabine Snipe is found with it, but very rarely. 



