416 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



whole colour of the bird is nearly the same as the 

 light streaks on the back, but the places where the 

 darker markings should be are just hinted at. 



The egg is pear-shaped ; olive-brown ground 

 colour, spotted and blotched, mostly near the larger 

 end, with dark brown and dull purplish brown. 



JACK SNIPE, Scolopax Gallinula. The pretty little 

 Jack Snipe is by no means so numerous with us as 

 the Common Snipe, and I am not aware that it has 

 ever been met with in our county during the summer, 

 and it certainly does not remain to breed : it is 

 therefore a much more truly migratory species, 

 making its appearance about the end of September 

 and departing about the beginning of April. 

 Notices no doubt occasionally appear of specimens 

 of this bird being procured, in both England and 

 Ireland, during the summer, but these seem to be 

 very scattered cases. Generally the Jack Snipe lies 

 much closer than the Common Snipe, and, rising 

 close under the feet of the sportsman, gives him a 

 very fair shot, as far as distance is concerned, but 

 not a very easy one, on account of its zigzag 

 flight; but, as it generally pitches again very soon, 

 it sometimes affords a very fair afternoon's sport, as 

 far as the expenditure of powder and shot is 

 concerned, and I have known cases in which one 

 Jack Snipe has afforded a whole winter's shooting. 



All authors seem to agree that the Jack Snipe has 

 a peculiar attachment to certain localities, visiting 



