THE SOLITARY SNIPE 269 



takes very little to kill snipe, their skins and 

 skulls being very delicate. There are two periods 

 in the flight of a snipe when it offers itself an 

 easy mark even to an indifferent shot, viz., when 

 it first rises, and whilst it is turning against the 

 wind, as is its invariable custom ; and just after 

 it has turned. It is at these times, just for a 

 second, almost stationary. The plumage of all 

 the three British varieties of snipe the great or 

 double, the common or full, and the jack or half 

 snipe is very beautiful, especially that of the 

 two last-named, though I think the palm for 

 general beauty and gracefulness may be awarded 

 to the common snipe. When just killed, the upper 

 plumage of the jack snipe is very brilliant, being 

 an exquisite combination of rich brown, tan colour 

 and deep shot-greens ; but its lustre fades very 

 rapidly and visibly. 



Every year some few occurrences of the great 

 or solitary snipe are recorded. It has never been 

 my fortune to shoot one of these birds, though I 

 believe that on two occasions I have flushed 

 them when salmon-fishing in the river Test, in 

 Hampshire. If they were not the solitary snipe, 

 I am at a loss to know what else they could have 

 been, for the time of year when I saw them was 

 that when they are most likely to be met with, 

 viz., September, during which month, and in the 

 spring, they are on passage. Two years running, 

 and in almost the same spot, I flushed one of 

 these birds. , * " 



