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1875 he was somewhat surprised to find several in a small marsh at the head of Suda Bay so late 

 as April. In Southern Germany it is a migrant and winter visitant. The late Mr. Seidensacher 

 informs me that it occurs sparingly on passage near Cilli, in Styria, and a few remain there 

 throughout the winter. 



Dr. Anton Fritsch says that it is not so numerous in Bohemia as the common Snipe ; and 

 he adds that it " breeds commonly in the peat-mosses of the Bohmerwald " — which must certainly 

 be an erroneous statement. In Austria and Transylvania it is tolerably numerous on passage ; 

 and Messrs. Elwes and Buckley say that it is common in some parts of Turkey. According to 

 Professor von Nordmann it appears on passage in Southern Russia, and sometimes remains till 

 May ; it is also recorded as common in marshy localities near Smyrna, in Asia Minor ; Canon 

 Tristram met with it in Palestine ; and it is found in North Africa. According to Von Heuglin 

 it visits the lagoons of Lower Egypt in the autumn and winter ; and he met with it there as late 

 as May. Brehm and Vierthaler observed it in December on the Blue Nile. Captain Shelley 

 obtained it near Dendera as late as the 12th of March ; and Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., records it as 

 very plentiful in the marshes at Damietta, being more numerous in proportion to the common 

 Snipe than in England. In Algeria it is found during winter, arriving with the common Snipe ; 

 and, according to Favier (Col. Irby, I. c), it is " nearly as common in the winter months around 

 Tangier as the common Snipe, arriving during November and departing northwards in February." 

 It is stated in error to be found in the Canaries ; for, according to Mr. Godman, only the common 

 species occurs there ; and I find no record of its occurrence elsewhere on the African continent 

 except in the north. In Asia it breeds in the northern districts, migrating southward during the 

 winter. Mr. Blanford says that it is generally distributed in Persia, in suitable localities, during 

 the winter months ; and Dr. Jerdon writes (B. of Ind. ii. p. 676) that it is generally diffused 

 throughout India, preferring thicker coverts than the common Snipe, lying very close, and 

 difficult to flush. Now and then considerable numbers will be met with ; in other places it is 

 rarely seen. It makes its appearance later than the common Snipe, and departs earlier. Colonel 

 Irby found it in Oudh and Kumaon, during the cold season, wherever the common Snipe 

 occurred, but not in such numbers ; and it has been recorded by Mr. Layard, on " sportsman's 

 authority," as found in Ceylon ; but Mr. Holdsworth did not meet with it there. Dr. Severtzoff 

 records it as occurring in Turkestan on passage; Von Middendorff found it breeding on the 

 Boganida, 70° N. lat. The first were observed on the 8th June; and the last was shot on the 

 31st August (O. S.). Dr. G. Radde met with it, on the 16th June 1859, when wandering through 

 the Alpine moss-tundras in the Sajan Mountains, close to the Iltschir lake, but never observed 

 it elsewhere in Siberia. Pere David was told that it had been killed once or twice at Pekin ; 

 but Mr. Swinhoe says that he has never seen it in China. One was procured by a sporting 

 friend in Formosa, and sent to him as the only one he had ever met with in that part of the 

 world. It is not included by Temminck and Schlegel in the ' Fauna Japonica ;' but Mr. Whitely 

 (Ibis, 1867, p. 206) obtained one from a native birdcatcher at Hakodadi, in Japan, on the 3rd 

 October, 1865, this being, he adds, the only specimen he ever saw there. 



In habits the Jack Snipe differs in many respects from its allies, but resembles the common 

 Snipe perhaps more than any other. It is less shy than that bird, and lies closer, usually not 

 rising until nearly trodden on; and when it flies off it does so without uttering a sound, flying in 



