JACK SNIPE. 41 



years after another specimen was shot. As, perhaps, no 

 one in the kingdom was ever more practically acquainted 

 with these birds, his authority may be considered indubita- 

 ble. Mr. Miller says he has had Jack Snipe's eggs brought 

 to him : they were smaller, and of a more elliptical shape 

 than those of the Common Snipe, which they otherwise 

 exactly resembled." The Rev. Richard Lubbock wrote me 

 word that the Jack Snipe referred to by Mr. Paget, as 

 produced by Mr. Girdlestone's offered reward, is now in 

 his possession. Mr. Lubbock says, " my lamented friend, 

 Girdlestone, sent it to me after it was set up. I got from 

 the man who shot it a full account of the particulars. He 

 observed that after the Snipes departed in April, one Jack 

 Snipe had still established his residence on the corner of a 

 small swamp, not three hundred yards from the feriman's 

 house. Stimulated by Mr. Girdlestone's reward, he went 

 often to look for it, taking care not to disturb it much, but 

 only to ascertain that it still remained. The middle of 

 May came, and sun and dry weather contracted the limits 

 of the Snipe's territory; still it maintained its post, but 

 grew more and more sluggish as the season advanced, inso- 

 much that when flushed it did not fly more than twenty or 

 thirty yards. When June arrived, Hewitt, the fenman, 

 was of course quick in taking measures to secure the sove- 

 reign. On the 2nd of June, he loaded his gun and went 

 in search of the Snipe ; it did not fly far enough to allow 

 him to level without the danger of cutting it to pieces, and 

 appeared still more feeble than formerly. He laid down his 

 gun, took his hat off, and after flushing it two or three 

 times, knocked it down as boys do butterflies. It was not 

 very lean, but still in poor condition, the plumage ragged, 

 and the skin scurfy. Close examination did not give any 

 cause for supposing it to have been a wounded bird; 

 indeed, in that case, it would rather have got stronger than 



