WOODCOCK AND SNIPE 285 



will reveal a considerable range of variation in details of pattern 

 and hue. Thus, then, the lack of absolute likeness between the jack- 

 snipe and the common-snipe may be a matter of no great moment, 

 albeit a further exaggeration of the differences which seem to have 

 begun to make their appearance in the jack-snipe may eventually, 

 sooner or later, throw the bird out of harmony with its environment, 

 and so bring about, either its extermination, or a change of habitat 

 and habit. But there are many details in the life-history of the jack- 

 snipe which remain to be filled in before we can profitably carry 

 speculation further. One point in this connection, which must not be 

 lost sight of, is that in the common-snipe, in its immature dress, the 

 longitudinal stripes are somewhat less perfectly developed ; at any 

 rate in so far as the external lateral, as distinct from the internal 

 submedian stripes are concerned. 



A comparison of the downy young of the snipe and woodcock is 

 no less instructive, for, curiously enough, it reveals the fact that the 

 young snipe resembles the adult woodcock in having transverse bars 

 across the head, while the young woodcock resembles the adult snipe 

 in having longitudinal stripes ! But the stripes in the woodcock are 

 black, and in the snipe are white. The young of all three species of 

 Snipe, it is significant to notice, are practically indistinguishable, but 

 that of the jack-snipe is perhaps the richest red in colour. 



That the woodcock and snipe have attained to a high degree of 

 specialisation seems to be shown by the fact that these birds display 

 no seasonal variation of plumage. What answers to the "nuptial" 

 plumage of so many of the Limicolce has here become the permanent 

 livery; and this interpretation is strengthened by the fact that not 

 only are the sexes alike, but the young scarcely differ from the adults. 

 Nowhere, perhaps, is the evidence of specialisation more strikingly 

 shown than in the skull, which has undergone profound structural 

 changes, as if in response to the probing movements of the beak. 

 Without entering into minute details, it will suffice to say that the 

 Snipe and woodcock stand alone among birds in respect of the 



