178 THE JACK SNIPE. 



of herbage, where it hides, it might be captured by the 

 hand. It leaves us early in the spring. Fond of con- 

 cealment as this little bird usually is, yet there are 

 times when it is infinitely less so than at others ; and, 

 I think, upon the relenting of a frost, or when there is 

 a tendency to a thaw, it shows unusual alacrity, springs 

 from its rushy drain almost as readily as the common 

 snipe, and occasions, for the moment, a doubt of the 

 species. The mandible of this species is of a weak 

 and spongy nature. 



The causes that influence this snipe to lead so soli- 

 tary a life are particularly obscure, as well as those 

 which stimulate some others to congregate, as we com- 

 prehend no individual benefit to arise from such habits. 

 Wild fowl, the rook, and some other birds, derive secu- 

 rity, perhaps, from feeding in society, as a sentinel ap- 

 pears to be placed by them at such times to give notice 

 of danger; but our congregating small birds take no 

 such precaution : security or mutual protection does not 

 seem to be obtained by it, as the largeness of the flocks 

 invites danger ; and warmth in the winter season it does 

 not afford. For the purposes of migration, such asso- 

 ciations are in many respects serviceable and consistent ; 

 but in our resident species, considered in its various 

 results, it becomes rather a subject of conjecture, than 

 of explanation. Timid creatures associate commonly 

 upon the apprehension of danger, and, without yielding 

 any mutual support, become only the more obnoxious to 

 evil ; and this snipe, though its habits are the very re- 

 verse of connexion with its species, yet affords no clue 

 to direct us to the causes of its unusual habits. These 

 associations of some, and retirement of others, are not 

 the capricious actions of an hour in a few individuals, 

 but so regularly and annually observed in the several 

 species, that they are manifestly appointed provisions 

 of nature, though the object is unknown. This half- 

 snipe, as our sportsmen call it, has rather generally 

 been considered by our young shooters as the male of 

 the larger species, or common snipe (scolopax gallinago) ; 

 yet it is difficult to assign any reason for the prevalence 

 of such an idea, with those who have had many oppor- 



