286 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX. 



certainly as if they fell here, instead of only 

 threatening to do so. 



The earliest day on which I ever killed or saw 

 widgeon in Morayshire was on the 8th of Septem- 

 ber, on which day I shot a brace, late in the even- 

 ing, as they flew over my head on their way from 

 the bay to some inland lake. They were both 

 young birds. The flock altogether consisted of 

 eight or nine. In the same year I killed a jack- 

 snipe on the 16th, which is far earlier than these 

 birds are usually seen (I have never yet ascertained 

 that they breed in Britain), and during the next ten 

 days I killed four others in nearly the same place, 

 some of which were undoubtedly young birds. It 

 may, therefore, be supposed that a chance pair may 

 occasionally breed in the North, as it does not 

 seem likely that those which I killed had been bred 

 out of the kingdom. In no other year have I ever 

 seen a jack-snipe before the 8th of October ; even 

 that is very early. I have made much inquiry on 

 this subject in Sutherlandshire and in other likely 

 localities ; but have invariably found that where 

 the jack-snipe has been supposed to have been seen 

 during the breeding-season it has turned out to 

 be the dunlin, or the common snipe. Neither 

 their eggs nor young have ever been found, nor has 

 the old bird been seen, for a certainty, in Britain 



