THE JACK SNIPE. 279 



few snipes comparatively with the more remote and unimproved 

 districts. From the 21st of September, 1835, to the 21st of 

 March, 1836, he bagged 183 brace of the common, and 43^- of 

 the jack snipe : the greatest number of the latter obtained in one 

 day (Dec. 20th) was seven brace, at the same time with eight and 

 a half brace of the common snipe, and one and a half brace of 

 quails. - * That he is no ordinary ' ' shot " will be evident, when it is 

 stated that on this day he missed only six birds. On the 8th of 

 January and 5th of March, four brace of jacks were killed, toge- 

 ther with eight brace of the common species, on the former, and 

 nine brace on the latter day. 



Prom September 20th, 1836, to March 20th, 1837, 216 brace 

 of the common, and 611 of the jack snipe were bagged; in the 

 shooting season of 1837-38, 112-i brace of the former, and 26 of 

 the latter; the following season 118-§- brace of the one, and 36 of 

 the other ; the next 149^ and 39-|- brace ; from September 1840 to 

 March 1841, 154 and 23 brace; September 1841 to March 1842, 

 105 and 72 brace. On several days of this last season the number 

 of 'jacks ' seen killed exceeded that of the common species ;t thus 

 on Nov. 9th were six brace of jacks to three and a half common ; 

 Nov. 26th, eight brace to six; Nov. 30th, ten to seven and a 

 half; Jan. 14th, seven to four; Jan. 21st, eight to six; Feb. 14th, 

 twelve to seven. 



To judge from these respective numbers, taken altogether, jack 

 snipes would seem to be in the proportion of about one-fourth to 

 the common species — a conclusion to which I had before come, and 

 winch has also been given in the ' Wild Sports of the West/ J A 

 little allowance should perhaps be made for the comparative acces- 

 sibility of the jack, which, as has been well remarked to me, often 

 " waits to be killed, while the common will not let one within 



* The proportion on the 12th of January, 1832, when my friend and I shot toge- 

 ther in the Plush bogs, was very different ; about thirty-five brace of snipe and but 

 one and a half of jack snipe having been met with. 



f The gamekeeper at Tollymore Park, county Down, remarked to me in September 

 1836, but without allusion to any particular season, that in a day's shooting ahout 

 there he sometimes meets with more jacks than common snipes. 



i Letter 42, p. 312, edit. 1843. 



