CHARADRIIDA. 575 
THE JACK SNIPE. 
GALLINAGO GALL{NULA, Linnzus. 
The Jack Snipe seldom appears in the British Islands before the 
beginning of September, and the heaviest arrivals take place in October ; 
at which time the bird sometimes strikes against lighthouses, though 
with less frequency than the Common Snipe. Before its departure 
northwards in April its plumage has assumed all the bloom and 
brilliancy of the nuptial period, while the fact that a few individuals 
have been known to remain till late in spring and even throughout 
_ Summer, has given rise to suppositions that the Jack Snipe might 
breed with us; there is not, however, a single authenticated instance 
of its having done so in any part of the United Kingdom. During 
the colder months of the year it is generally distributed, and though 
less numerous than the Cominon Snipe, it is more ubiquitous, while 
exhibiting a marked preference for certain localities. 
As a wanderer the Jack Snipe was obtained in the Feeroes in 1890. 
In summer it inhabits Scandinavia, especially to the north of the Arctic 
circle, and in Western Russia it nests as far south as St. Petersburg ; 
but east of Archangel it appears to be infrequent, and Messrs. 
Harvie-Brown and Seebohm did not observe it on the Lower 
Petchora. Putting aside unsubstantiated assertions respecting its 
supposed breeding below lat. 55° N., it may be described as a bird of 
passage over the remainder of the Continent, and in the south it is 
often plentiful—in some years even more so than the Common 
