226 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



Carter further adds, " You will say ' Old fool/ for letting it 

 go so cheap.' I have no doubt there is another in the neigh- 

 bourhood, as two countrymen told me they had put a Snipe 

 up out of the springhole in Mr. Halsted's marsh, as black as 

 a Starling, the Saturday after I killed mine. If I should get 

 the other the price would make me sing ' O be joyful.' " I 

 never heard that the second was obtained. 



JACK SNIPE. 



Scolopax gallinula. 



Though not at all uncommouj the Jack Snipe is by no means 



so abundant as the last described, and, unlike it, is never 



found in wisps, seldom more than a pair being flushed 



together, and it is far more usual to find it solitary. When 



alarmed it lies very close, so much so that one day, having 



no more ammunition, I obtained three, immediately under 



the nose of my pointer, by dropping the muzzle of my gun 



upon the bird, which my readers will no doubt call a very 



unsportsmanlike proceeding. When flushed, the Jack Snipe 



seldom flies to any great distance, and does not twist about 



like the Common Snipe. Many stories have been told of the 



difficulty of shooting it, but I must say that I think it is 



even greater in the case of the Common Snipe, as the Jack 



hangs in the wind, and, though flying sharply for a moment, 



afterwards goes off very slowly, but if one waits till it is at a 



reasonable distance it is very apt to drop just as you are 



about to fire. It is found, not in the parts where the bog is 



deepest, but on the drier spots around the little springholes 



on its margin, or the runlets trickling down towards it. On 



the Common I have so often mentioned, I always knew where 



to find one, if any were there. 



