JACK SNIPE. 615 



food, but I have generally found seeds in its stomach, once 

 hempseeds, and always gravel." 



I saw eggs of the Jack Snij^e in the Museum at Paris, of 

 one of which I have an exact drawing. The egg is of a yel- 

 lowish olive, the larger end spotted with two shades of brown ; 

 the length of the egg one inch three lines, by ten lines in 

 breadth. Mr. Dann says the Jack Snipe is far less numerous 

 in Scandinavia than either of the two preceding species, but 

 frequents the same localities. It however migrates south con- 

 siderably later ; he has met with them on the Dofre Fi-ell 

 as late as the end of September, after a frost of some days'" 

 duration with deep snow, and has seen them at Lulea, on the 

 Bothnian Gulph, in October. They are not unfrequently to 

 be met with as late as November and December, in Sweden. 

 M. Temminck, in the fourth part of his Manual, mentions 

 that this bird breeds in considerable numbers in the environs 

 of St. Petcrsburgh ; and Pennant says it visits Siberia. JNIr. 

 Hoy is said to have found the nests and eggs of the Jack 

 Snipe at Falconswaerd, in North Brabant. It is a winter 

 visiter only to France, Provence, and Italy. Mr. Strickland 

 nientions that it is abundant at Smyrna in the same season ; 

 the Russian Naturalists found it in the vicinity of the Cau- 

 casus, and Colonel Sykes includes it in his Birds of the 

 Dukhun. 



The beak is dark brown at the point, pale reddish brown 

 at the base ; irides dark brown ; from the beak to the eye a 

 dark brown streak ; over that, over the eye and over the ear- 

 coverts a broad pale brown streak, with a narrow darker one 

 along the middle line of the posterior part ; forehead and top 

 of the head rich dark brown, not divided along the middle 

 by a pale brown streak, as in the Great Snipe and Common 

 Snipe ; back of the neck greyish brown, varied with dusky 

 brown ; back rich dark brown ; interscapulars and scapulars 

 nearly black, tipped with reddish brown, both sets having 



