THE JACK SNIPE. 



449 



to take ; indeed it seems to decide eventually on the one 

 which was at first most unlikely to be its path, and after 

 having made a short round composed of a series of dis- 

 jointed curves, it either returns close to the spot from 

 which it was started, or suddenly drops, as by a sudden 

 impulse, into a ditch a few gunshots off. I have seen one 

 drop thus within twenty yards of the spot where I stood, 

 and though I threw upwards of a dozen stones into the 





THE JACK SNIPE. 



place where I saw it go down, it took no notice of them. 

 It was only by walking down the side of the ditch, 

 beating the rushes with a stick, that I induced it to rise 

 again. It then flew off in the same way as before, and 

 dropped into the little stream from which I had first 

 started it. 



From this habit of lying so close as to rise under the 

 very feet of the passenger, as well as from its silence, 



G G 



