SNIPE 311 



flight is slower and more bat-like, but it zig-zags quite as much as the 

 " full "-snipe. Yarrell also comments on the reluctance of the jack- 

 snipe to take wing when in danger. " It has been known," he 

 remarks, " to allow itself to be picked up by hand before the nose of 

 a pointer " rather than attempt to escape by flight. It seems to me 

 that the jack-snipe will pick up a living during hard weather while 

 its larger cousin starves, and this because of its ability to thrive on 

 seeds. Be this as it may, the full-snipe, as we have already shown, 

 does eat seeds, though this may be only a rare occurrence. Observa- 

 tions are needed on the point. 



The question has more than once been raised as to whether the 

 jack-snipe is entitled to rank as a genus by itself, on account of the 

 fact that the sternum has two notches, while all the other snipe and 

 woodcock have but one. It yet remains to be seen whether the jack 

 is peculiar in this respect. Of many of the less familiar, more aberrant 

 species, no records are extant as to the condition of the breast-bone. 

 But, in any case, this is not so important a character as some with a 

 limited knowledge of this aspect of ornithology suppose. The syrinx, as 

 I have just ascertained by a series of dissections, differs conspicuously 

 from that of any other snipe with which I am acquainted, or, for the 

 matter of that, from that of any other Limicoline bird, and will pos- 

 sibly prove to be unique. It is formed by a number of fused tracheal 

 rings of gradually increasing circumference, giving this end of the 

 trachea trumpet-shape. Interposed between these fused elements and 

 the first bronchial semi-ring is a free semi-ring, partly cartilaginous. 

 Attached to its ventral end is a Ungulate plate of cartilage the free 

 end of which is attached to the ventral end of the first bronchial 

 semi-ring. No other bird, so far as I know, displays such a peculiarity. 

 But more on this head will be said in another place. 



A word in conclusion as to the eggs of the jack and great-snipes. 

 They are usually four, sometimes three, in number, pyriform in shape, 

 and laid with converging points. The eggs of the jack-snipe are 

 remarkably large for the size of the bird, and in this respect differ 



