THE JACK-SNIPE. 217 



sight and upon the wing, the jack-snipe lurks and conceals 

 itself in the herbage, and allows itself to be almost trampled 

 upon before it can be raised. In winter, it keeps much more 

 under cover, and further into the marsh than the common 

 snipe, though even that bird rarely flushes of its own accord, 

 or indeed is seen, unless when it is forced up. I have seen a 

 family of snipes squatted and basking in the sun, with their 

 tails to the light, and their heads in the herbage. That, I 

 believe, is to be seen only on the small bog-streams, where 

 there is a square yard or two of sod between the rill and the 

 tall herbage. It is, I should suppose, rare even there, as the 

 moment that there is the least rustle, the birds vanish like 

 magic, and you may seek long enough before you can get 

 another sight. 



The eggs of the jack-snipe have certainly been found on 

 the cold bleak moors of Yorkshire ; and we have no other 

 instance of a bird, which resorts generally to the polar regions 

 to breed, remaining and breeding so far south. The habit of 

 the genus is also something : all the snipes resort inland to 

 breed, and that is not quite consistent with a voyage to the 

 arctic regions, at nearly the same time when our other birds, 

 of the most analogous habits, are beginning to move to our 

 own upland wastes to breed. 



The whole question of the breeding places of the genus 

 wants revision. As the birds move chiefly during the night, 

 both on their longer and their shorter migrations, or at least 

 are seldom seen moving by day, which, in so far as know- 

 ledge is concerned, amounts to nearly the same, we know 

 very little of their motions. It is generally understood, 

 however, that, among some of them, there are symptoms of 

 pairing before they retire, and that may supersede the neces- 

 sity of any nuptial song like that uttered by the common 

 snipe. In the shooting season, jack-snipes prefer what is 

 called "hassocky bogs," that is, bogs where tufts of herbage 



