

JACK SNIPE SHOOTING. 185 



whizzing motion, and glistening with brightness. 

 Although these birds lie close enough, they are far 

 from being shy, but will remain, at times protruding 

 their heads and bills from the ground, as children 

 hide their faces in the mother's lap, when they think 

 to conceal themselves. It is very uncertain whether 

 they breed in these islands, even in solitary instances, 

 for all attempts to find the nest have hitherto signally 

 failed. The bird has been shot during summer, and 

 this is the only datum for the supposition that they 

 do so. Sir W. Jardine says, "In an excursion to 

 Sutherlandshire, some years since, we thought we had 

 found a breeding station for this bird near Tongue. 

 The gamekeeper there, an intelligent man, said, that 

 he frequently met with them, and their young, in 

 August, while shooting ; and every cross-questioning 

 that could be put, would not allow him to think that 

 he was mistaken by the young of the common snipe. 

 He mentioned the breeding-places frequented by 

 them, and which, when visited, were exactly the 

 spots we should have expected, or looked for a 

 'jack.' Our search, however, was fruitless; and, 

 so far as this point is concerned, we have been unable 

 to fill it up in Scotland." 



The " gid," "jetcock," or "judcock," as it is 

 termed provincially, weighs about two ounces ; is from 

 seven and a-half to eight and a-half inches long ; bill, 

 nearly two inches ; the tail cruciform, and consists of 

 twelve feathers, lance-like in shape ; the wings are 

 greyish black, secondaries tipped with white, the 



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