JACK SNIPE. 613 



was shot. As, perhaps, no one in the Idngdom was ever 

 more practically acquainted with these birds, his authority 

 may be considered indubitable. Mr. Miller says he has had 

 Jack Snipe's eggs brought to him : they were smaller, and 

 of a more elliptical shape than those of the Common Snipe, 

 which they otherwise exactly resembled." The Rev. Richard 

 Lubbock wrote me word that the Jack Snipe referred to by 

 Mr. Paget, as produced by Mr. Girdlestone's offered reward, 

 is now in his possession. Mr. Lubbock says, " my lamented 

 friend, Girdlestone, sent it to me after it was set up. I got 

 from the man who shot it a full account of the particulars. 

 He observed that after the Snipes departed in April, one 

 Jack Snipe had still established his residence on the corner 

 of a small swamp, not three hundred yards from the fenman's 

 house. Stimulated by ISIr. Girdlestone"'s reward, he went 

 often to look for it, taking care not to disturb it much, but 

 only to ascertain that it still remained. The middle of May 

 came, and sun and dry weather contracted the limits of the 

 Snipe's territory ; still it maintained its post, but grew more 

 and more sluggish as the season advanced, insomuch that 

 Avhen flushed it did not fly more than twenty or thirty yards. 

 When June arrived, Hewitt, the fenman, was of course quick 

 in taking measures to secure the sovereign. On the 2nd of 

 June, he loaded his gun and went in search of the Snipe ; it 

 did not fly far enough to allow him to level without the 

 danger of cutting it to pieces, and appeared still more feeble 

 than formerly. He laid down his gun, took his hat off, and 

 after flushing it two or three times, knocked it down as boys 

 do butterflies. It was not very lean, but still in poor con- 

 dition, the plumage ragged, and the skin scurfy. Close ex- 

 amination did not give any cause for supposing it to have 

 been a wounded bird ; indeed, in that case, it would rather 

 have got stronger than weaker, as time rolled on. I was 

 with Mr. Girdlestone when we found the pair of Jack Snipes 



