THE JACK SNIPE 



In its habits generally the bird closely resembles its 

 larger ally the Common Snipe, but it is even more solitary. 

 It migrates at night, and obtains most of its food under 

 the cover of darkness. Rarely indeed is it observed 

 active during the daytime, consequently its movements 

 are difficult to watch. It is usually flushed quite un- 

 expectedly at one's feet, darting off in an erratic, un- 

 steady way at first, but finally settling down into a steadier 

 flight, and seldom goes very far from its favourite haunt, 

 returning thereto at the first possible opportunity. 

 It is a very silent bird whilst with us, and seldom or never 

 makes a sound when rising, not even the whirr of its 

 wings being distinctive. Its food consists chiefly of 

 worms, insects and larvae, small seeds and tender shoots 

 of vegetation during winter, but whilst absent from us 

 crustaceans and mollusks are eaten. As many readers 

 may be aware, the Jack Snipe does not breed anywhere 

 in the British Islands, and but little has been recorded 

 of its habits during the nesting season. It selects some 

 dry spot in the Arctic swamps and makes a slight nest 

 on the ground, a mere hollow lined with a few scraps 

 of withered herbage. In this the female lays four large, 

 handsome eggs, buff or olive in ground colour, blotched 

 and spotted with rich brown, paler brown, and grey, 

 and sometimes streaked here and there with darker 

 brown. One brood only is reared in the season, the 

 eggs being laid late in June. The southern migration 

 commences soon after the young are strong enough 

 to fly. 



Although it is a very much smaller bird, the Jack Snipe 

 closely resembles the Common Snipe in general appear- 

 ance. If examined minutely the Jack Snipe will be found 

 to have no pale stripe on the crown, the feathers of the 

 mantle are purple, the inner webs of the scapulars are 

 green, and the inner webs of the innermost secondaries 

 are uniform brown ; the tail is nearly uniform brown 



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