THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SNIPE. 267 



be certain, although handling the birds and seeing them in the 

 fields. It is now easy to recollect that if the bird has any cross- 

 barred feathers it is a Common Snipe, while if all are longi- 

 tudinally streaked it is a Jack. 



As a matter of fact, there must be hardly a bone or a single 

 feather that is not different to the corresponding bone or feather 

 in the other species. Even on the wing the two birds are not 

 alike, for the rounded contours of the flying Jack-Snipe (remini- 

 scent both of the Curlew and the Heron) separate it at once 

 from its angular and impetuous neighbour. Strange to say, 

 although the young at all ages differ vastly in the two species, 

 the eggs are much alike, and it is said that some eggs of the 

 Common Snipe are quite indistinguishable from those of the 

 Jack-Snipe. 



Although living side by side with the Jack for so many 

 months in the year, the Common Snipe is not so well fitted to 

 its habitat. The long bill, while enabling the owner to reach a 

 greater depth of soil, is apparently useless for surface feeding 

 when the ground is hard with frost, and, besides, the colours of 

 the plumage are not so suitable. I have seen many Common 

 Snipe on the ground, but, although far from easy to see, they 

 are conspicuous compared with the smaller birds. For one 

 thing, the colours are different ; they are too warm. There is 

 a lack of the purples, greens, and cool greys that match the 

 light-reflecting mud, and enhance the brightness of the dorsal 

 streaks. In the Common Snipe these streaks are not so distinct, 

 and I have often noticed that the component feathers are not 

 properly arranged, so that the stripes are broken, and unlike 

 sedge or grass. In some individuals the cross-barred fianks are 

 curiously successful in counteracting the effect of the remainder 

 of the plumage, a fact that helps us to understand why the bird 

 should substitute longitudinal markings for the bars. (If a 

 Snipe is shot and falls on a green field or a bare fallow it may 

 often be easily seen, and the observer may perhaps make the 

 error of attaching too much importance to the fact. Yet a little 

 thought will show that the colours are not intended to harmonize 

 with short grass or bare soil, and are effective only in the 

 environment for which they are designed.) It is a matter of 

 common knowledge that the Common Snipe lacks the quiet 



