JACK SNIPE. 341 



north. Mr. A. Hamond, jun., informs me that he 

 once found a jack snipe in a swampy part of East 

 Walton Common, in June, but had no reason to suppose 

 that the bird had a nest there; and in June, 1868, a 

 single bird of this species was seen by Riche, the 

 broadman, at Surlingham; yet all such instances are 

 no more evidence of this species intending to breed 

 here* than the presence on our coast throughout the 

 summer of a few dunlins, sanderlings, or grey plover. 



The fact of the jack snipe during the breeding season 

 emitting a strange noise when on the wing, yet differing 

 altogether from the " drumming " of the common 

 species, appears to have been first noticed by the late 

 Mr. Wolley. The following interesting description of it 

 from the pen of that accomplished naturalist, is pub- 

 lished by Hewitson (" Eggs of Brit. Bds.," 3rd ed.) : 

 66 It was on the 17th of June, 1853, in the great marsh of 

 Muonioniska that I first heard the jack snipe, though at 

 the time I could not at all guess what it was ; an extra- 

 ordinary sound unlike anything I had heard before. I 

 could not tell from 'what direction it came, and it filled 

 me with a curious surprise; my Finnish interpreter 

 thought it was a capercally, and at that time I could 

 not contradict him, but soon I found that it was a small 

 bird gliding at a wild pace, at a great height over the 

 marsh. I know not how better to describe the noise 

 than by likening it to the cantering of a horse in the 



* In Mr. A. G. More's paper " on the Distribution of Birds in 

 Great Britain daring the nesting season" I find the following 

 observations ("Ibis," 1865, p. 438): "A few instances are on 

 record in which the jack snipe has been seen in England during 

 the summer months; hitherto there appears to be no good 

 authority for believing that the nest has been found in this island." 

 In Lapland, Mr. A. Newton informs me the jack snipe seldom lays 

 before the middle of June at the earliest, and constantly breeds 

 quite into August. 



