286 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CU. XX. 



certainly as if they fell here, instead of only threat- 

 ening to do so. 



The earliest day on which I ever killed or saw 

 widgeon in Morayshire was on the 8th of September, 

 on which day I shot a brace, late in the evening, as 

 they flew over my head on their way from the bay 

 to some inland lake. They were both young birds. 

 The flock altogether consisted of eight or nine. In 

 the same year I killed a jack-snipe on the 16th, 

 which is far earlier than these birds are usually 

 seen (I have never yet ascertained that they breed 

 in Britain), and during the next ten days I killed 

 four others in nearly the same place, some of 

 which were undoubtedly young birds. It may, 

 therefore, be supposed that a chance pair may 

 occasionally breed in the North, as it does not 

 seem likely that those which I killed had been bred 

 out of the kingdom. In no other year have I ever 

 seen a jack-snipe before the 8th of October ; even 

 that is very early. I have made much inquiry on 

 this subject in Sutherlandshire and in other likely 

 localities ; but have invariably found that where the 

 jack-snipe has been supposed to have been seen 

 during the breeding season, it has turned out to be 

 the dunlin, or the common snipe. Neither their eggs 

 nor young have ever been found, nor has the old bird 

 been seen, for a certainty, in Britain during the 



