JACK SNIPE. 21 5 



are nearly always plump, their quiet habits account- 

 ing for this. Jack Snipe never nest, that I heard 

 of, in Ireland. That they do so, however, is quite 

 possible, for I have several notes of their being seen 

 in Ireland during the summer months. 



I find Jack Snipe are becoming scarcer every 

 year in Ireland. Upon this subject Colonel Peyton 

 writes to me as follows : 



" 1882. My experience of Snipe, Cock and Duck 

 shooting in Ireland goes back to 1848. At that 

 date, in the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon 

 and Leitrim, Jack Snipe were at least twenty per 

 cent, more numerous than they have been since 

 1860. This I attribute to breech-loading guns, 

 for when I was a boy no one troubled themselves 

 about ' Jacks,' the full Snipe were so plentiful. It 

 was a common expression then among shooters, * I 

 never shoot a Jack.' Now I never let a Jack off, if 

 I can help it, and have not spared them for ten 

 years past. I prefer them for the table to full Snipe 

 when in good condition and large, as they usually 

 are in Kerry. Four or five years ago in that county 

 my daily bag might be fifty or sixty Snipe, and 

 perhaps not more than four or five Jacks out of that 

 number. I should even now say that two Jacks to 

 twenty-five Common Snipe would be the average 

 proportion throughout the season. The day I 

 killed the 105 Snipe, before alluded to, there were 

 only four Jacks in the bag. 



" In former days we never thought of marking 

 any Snipe down ; now I turn back a quarter of 

 a mile to a marked bird, whether it be Jack or 

 Common. 



