122 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



signal when to expect them. This chirpy scream of the black- 

 bird generally begins a little before dusk ; the woodcocks fly 

 about dusk, and the ducks a little after. In a good place for 

 evening flight, you may generally secure four or five fair 

 chances at woodcock. A few cocks come to the coverts 

 again in March, immediately before taking their final departure. 

 As the ground is then soft, and plenty of worms, &c., are to be 

 found in every part of it, they are not so apt to frequent moist 

 places, and may, in fact, be flushed in any part of the coppice. 

 It is therefore scarcely worth while to beat for them. 



Numbers of the mire-snipe breed among the heather on our 

 moors, and afford no small amusement to the grouse-shooter. 

 I have often bagged four or five couple in a day, when after 

 grouse, merely picking them up as they came in the way. 

 The young are constantly met with in all stages of progress 

 from the downy ball of a few days old, to the scarcely fledged 

 bird essaying its first tottering flight. 



Jacks come in September, but are more local in their habits. 

 They are found in considerable plenty on many of our more 

 marshy moors. It is very amusing to witness the attempts of 

 an indifferent shot at jack-snipes in such open ground. They 

 are easily found by a good dog, as they have a strong scent ; 

 and, being close-lying birds, they generally spring within a yard 

 of the sportsman's toes, who at last wishes his teasing game 

 far enough, when a heroic jack doggedly offers another chance. 

 A good shot will hit a jack even more certainly than a mire- 

 snipe. 



In bare ground, I have frequently noticed both mire and 

 jack snipes squatted before my dog's nose. Once I plainly 

 saw the point of a mire-snipe's bill stuck in the ground, ready 

 to hoist him into the air. I watched narrowly, and, in taking 

 wing, he used his long bill exactly as we would a walking- 

 stick. Snipes have the same predilection for a particular spot 

 as woodcocks. One severe winter my retriever sprang a mire- 

 snipe out of a puddle, close to the Gala water. It flew across 



