148 JACK SNIPE. 



never heard of the Jack Snipe thus congregating elsewhere." We are not aware of any 

 other record of a similar occurrence. 



The flight of the Jack Snipe, when disturbed, is seldom to any distance, and before 

 springing, it will frequently almost allow itself to be trodden upon, so closely does it lie. 

 After rising, and flying a short distance, it will drop suddenly to the ground, and there 

 again lie very close; indeed it can rarely be induced to take a flight of any considerable 

 length, until it has been repeatedly disturbed. Soft, boggy ground, with an ample growth 

 of rough grass, sedge, and marshy plants, is a favourite resort of the Jack Snipe during 

 the day ; and it is, with difficulty, driven from such excellent shelter. On rising it utters 

 no note. 



They will, however, occasionally occur in places where we should least expect to meet 

 with them. Thus we are informed by the Reverend W. Waldo Cooper, of West Rasen 

 Rectory, Lincolnshire, that on the 16th. of November, 1853, he saw a Jack Snipe killed 

 in the middle of Toft plantation, which is an old one, nearly square, and containing 

 about ten acres. 



Its food consists, on the authority of Sir Humphrey Davy, of "smaller insects than the 

 Common Snipe; small white larva;, such as are found in black bogs, are its favourite 

 food; but I have generally found seeds in its stomach — once hempseed; and always gravel." 



With respect to the nesting of the Jack Snipe in this country, much pains has been 

 taken by Mr. Yarrell in collecting evidence; but as yet nothing satisfactory has been 

 proved in the affirmative, at least as regards England. Several instances are mentioned 

 in which the Jack Snipe has been procured in the summer months ; and eggs, purporting 

 to be those of this bird, have on several occasions been shown, but these have, we believe, 

 always turned out to be the eggs of some of the other Scolopacidce. In Ireland, however, 

 these birds have, though rarely, been obtained during the summer in the breeding plumage; 

 and Mr. Watters, in his "Natural History of the Birds of Ireland," makes the following 

 statement, which is certainly in favour of some remaining to breed in these countries. 

 He says, "Having observed specimens obtained in the months of June, July, and August, 

 in the rich plumage of the nuptial season, (in one of which the feathers of the breast 

 were wanting,) it is not improbable that, like the Woodcock, it may breed with us in 

 limited numbers." 



Mr. Thompson also states that "Mr. R. Rail has met with it in the Dublin mountains 

 at midsummer; and a friend of his once shot several individuals there early in August. 

 Different persons have told me, (without supplying proof,) of its breeding in certain 

 localities; but the Dunlin has often been mistaken for it on the moors in the breeding- 

 season. On the following testimony of Mr. G. Jackson, gamekeeper, (communicated in 

 May, 1849,) I, however, feel certain of its having bred: — 'I have known some few instances 

 •of the Jack Snipe breeding in this country. In the year 1834, I found a nest containing 



