The Snipes. 481 



birds. Ten or a dozen up to even forty 

 or fifty may frequently be found scattered 

 over a small space ; but on rising on wing 

 the company break up and separate. . . . 

 " The difficulty of finding and putting 

 up these strange birds is well known to 

 all sportsmen ; without a steady dog 

 accustomed to their habits, large numbers 

 must invariably be passed over. Jacks 

 may frequently be detected squatting on 

 the moist ground, the attention usually 

 being attracted by the eye or the yellow 

 stripes on the back. On one occasion, 

 while cautiously making my way across 

 a waving bog, over which my weight was 

 causing the water to rise rapidly to a 

 depth of three or four inches, I noticed 

 three floated off the short herbage and 

 rushes on which they were squatted and 

 swept down to my feet by the force of 

 the current before they attempted to take 

 wing, one of the birds being carried by 

 the rush of the water a distance of three 

 or four yards. The poor little fellow 

 made no attempt to swim, the legs being 

 kept perfectly still, and the head remain- 

 ing drawn back between the shoulders, 

 with the beak pointed forwards, in the 

 position into which they subside when 

 danger approaches." 



VOL. ii. 31 



