THE JACK SNIPE. 91 



to I.JL. inches long, and from i T 2 inches to i-^- 

 inches broad. They vary much in colour; one variety 

 has the ground olive-brown, with darker spots of the 

 same colour intermixed, with a few of liver colour ; 

 another has the ground stone-colour spotted with 

 lines and vandyke brown ; a third has a pale blue 

 ground with spots. Sometimes they are very richly 

 marked. They are found from April to July. 



JACK SNIPE. 



The Jack Snipe (S. gallinula) is a winter visitor to- 

 Britain ; it is about half the size of the common 

 snipe ; its feathers, purple, bronze and green, have a 

 metallic lustre. It arrives in Britain in September, 

 and remains till February or March, when it goes 

 north to Lapland and other Arctic regions for breed- 



