SNIPE 301 



(Menyanthes trifoliata) as well as a quantity of comminuted vegetable 

 matter, but whether this forms any considerable part of the diet of 

 these birds remains to be seen; so far as the evidence goes, they 

 do not seem to take kindly to a vegetable diet Finally, the jack- 

 snipe has relatively the shortest beak. Thus, though perhaps the 

 most highly specialised in regard to its coloration, it is apparently 

 the least specialised in regard to its food ; and the advantages gained 

 thereby are apparent during hard weather. Then the woodcock, 

 great, and common-snipe fare badly. Not so the jack ; when his 

 cousins are reduced to mere skeletons, the jack still remains plump 

 and in good liking, grass, various kinds of seeds, and moss furnishing 

 him full meals while his neighbours starve. 



Frost drives the "full" or common-snipe, like the woodcock, to the 

 coast, where it contrives, for a while at any rate, to eke out a living in 

 company with small Waders, but unless a thaw sets in speedilr tfcey 

 die in large numbers. The mortality at this time would be far higher 

 but for the fact that the majority of the birds affected seem to make 

 a general rush for the south and west of Ireland, where enormous 

 numbers find food and shelter till the time of stress is past. Ireland, 

 however, at all times, is the most favoured of our islands by snipe, 

 which breed there in large numbers. " The winter visitors," remarks 

 Mr. Ussher, 1 "are believed to be distinguishable by colour and mark- 

 ings from the birds reared in this country, which are greyer." This 

 may well be ; the point is worth more attention than it has 

 obtained. 



But to return to the subject of feeding. Snipe, like woodcock, 

 possess a ravenous appetite, and lose flesh rapidly if the supply of 

 worms, their staple diet, is cut off. With a thaw the worms rapidly 

 make their way to the surface, and the snipe then feast, and gain fat 

 again as rapidly as they lost it. This inability to sustain long fasts, where 

 the diet is largely made up of worms, is exemplified again in the case of 

 the mole, which is unable to fast longer than a few hours. As to the 



1 Birds of Ireland, p. 278. 



