576 JACK SNIPE. 
Snipe—during winter. At that season it also visits North Africa 
and Egypt, where it sometimes remains as late as May ; and ascends 
the Nile to Abyssinia. In Asia it breeds on the tundras of Siberia 
as far north as lat. 70°, though not found nesting in the valley of the 
Yenesei ; while on passage it visits Japan and even Formosa in the 
cold season, as well as Tenasserim and the rest of the Indian region, 
Persia, and Turkestan ; and it has been obtained in August on the 
Sayan Mountains (at 8,000 ft.) in North-western Mongolia. 
For the first details of the nidification of this, as of many other 
species, we are indebted to Wolley, who found the bird breeding in the 
latter half of June on the marsh of Muonioniska in Lapland. The 
nests are described as being loosely made of little pieces of grass, 
eguisetum, and a few old leaves of the dwarf birch, placed in a dry 
sedgy or grassy spot close to more open swamp. The Jack Snipe 
weighs about 2 ozs., yet its 4 eggs weigh more than 13 oz. These, 
so disproportionate to the size of the bird, are yellowish-olive, spotted 
and streaked with brown, the latter colour being somewhat more 
predominant than in those of the Common Snipe, while they are 
rather smaller, averaging 1°5 by 1 in. During the breeding-season 
the Jack Snipe makes a ‘ drumming’ noise, which Wolley compared 
“to the cantering of a horse over a hard road: it came in fours 
with a similar cadence, and a like clear yet hollow sound.” The food 
consists of larvae of beetles and other insects, always accompanied 
by a little grit. A continuance of severe weather does not seem to 
impoverish this bird, and between the fattest of several Jacks and 
the leanest of some Common Snipes, weighed the same day, I have 
found a difference of only 3 oz. in favour of the larger species. 
The adult male in breeding-plumage exhibits a large amount of 
metallic-green and ‘purple on the upper parts; the female is, on 
average, a trifle larger in size but not so bright in colour. In winter 
the reddish-brown of the upper parts is obscured by a tinge of grey ; 
while in the young bird the green and purple reflections are wanting. 
Varieties are very uncommon, but a melanism shot near Staines was 
recorded by the late Mr. F. Bond. Length 7:5 in. (bill 1°5), wing 
425 in. The tail-feathers are only 12 in number, for which reason, 
supplemented by the fact that there are two notches on each side of 
the posterior margin of the breast-bone—the Common Snipe having 
but one—this species has been placed apart by some ornithologists 
in the genus Limmnocryptes, 
The Red-breasted Snipe, which followed this species in the 
st Edition, is now removed to p. 621, before the Godwits. 
