JACK SNIPE. BLACK-TAILED GOD WIT. 151 



not improbable that, like the woodcock, it may breed with 

 us in limited numbers. 



More sluggish and indolent in habits than the common 

 snipe, the Jack exhibits few of the watchful characteristics 

 of that bird, but in its unwillingness to take wing often al- 

 lows one to approach within a few feet before attempting to 

 rise, and then, selecting a suitable place to pitch, rising in the 

 air, it drops like an arrow to the ground ; in no case ever 

 venturing to take wing for a long flight until after being dis- 

 turbed some three or four different times. 



A curious idea is possessed by many sportsmen, as well 

 as by the market dealers, respecting this species, all believing 

 it to be the male of the common snipe ; distinguishing it by 

 the appellation of Jack, as they give the other the name of 

 Jill snipe. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



GENUS LXXIIL LIMOSA (GODWIT). 



SPECIES 141 THE BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



Limosa melanura. Selby. 

 Barge a queue noir. Temm. 



Red Godwit. Whelp. 



THIS fine-looking species is an autumnal and winter visitant 

 to our coasts, and only occurs in very limited numbers ; at 

 times their occurrence on the eastern shores of the island is 

 of great rarity ; although, during some years, they are found 

 scattered in considerable numbers along the sea-coast about 

 Dublin, and in such plenty that, in the autumn of 1849, they 

 were exposed for sale by the hawkers of wild fowl in the 

 city, tied together in long strings like the more common snipe 

 and plover. 



Few species exhibit a more varied change of plumage, at 

 different seasons of the year, than the birds comprised in the 

 present genus. The beautiful and showy plumaged bird of 

 the summer exchanging its gay tints, and adapting its appear- 

 ance to the rigours of winter from the many varying hues of 

 reddish-orange and yellowish-red to the more unobtrusive 

 shades of pale gray and white. 



On one occasion, when observing a flock of sea-birds on 

 the coast at Malahide, during the autumn of 1852, with the 

 aid of a pocket telescope, fifteen godwits were discerned occu- 

 pying a portion of an exposed sandbank, and awaiting in com- 



