JACK SNIPE. 337 



us. "Once as my Attention was directed, whilst re-loading 1 , 

 to the numerous borings in the marsh, I saw a jack squat- 

 ting down, in a little tuft of -grass, within a yard or two of 

 my feet, and in spite of my two barrels having just been 

 discharged,* it rose only when the man walked straight 

 up to it. Another curious incident, which occurred at 

 the same time, particularly marks the occasion in my 

 mind. The marsh in question was bordered on one side 

 by a wide drain, having a slightly raised bank, covered 

 with coarse grass and sedges, and at a particular spot, 

 close to the water's edge, I had marked down a jack 

 and felt quite sure of finding it again. On walking up 

 to the very tuft where I had seen it alight, I stamped 

 my foot, and instantly, to my utter astonishment, a 

 magnificent cock pheasant rose from under the bank, 

 and evidently by the noise he made was as much taken 

 aback as myself at our unlooked for meeting. I am 

 not ashamed to own that I was nowhere with my first 

 barrel, but the second landed the unlucky truant from 

 some neighbouring coverts, safely on the opposite 

 marsh. What became of that jack snipe I cannot say. 

 In days of belief in sorcery and witchcraft I should 

 probably have decided that it changed into a cock 

 pheasant on purpose to bother me. All I know is that 

 I never saw it again. 



By many authors, and even by so accurate an 

 observer as Macgillivray, the jack snipe has been termed 

 solitary, but although single birds may be found here 

 and there, a careful search would, in all probability, 

 discover one or more close by; at least such has inva- 

 riably been my own experience. Unlike the "whole" 



* I once flushed a " whole" snipe from under a wooden railway 

 bridge, over which a heavy train had just passed, shaking tho 

 whole edifice; yet the snipe lay there undisturbed, until my 

 footsteps alarmed it, when it started from under the bridge, 

 and I dropped it on the " line " with a snap shot. 

 2 x 



