64 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



more than 4J oz. As I was writing this article on 

 Sept. 18th, 1888, a Snipe was brought to me shot that 

 morning by one of our gamekeepers near Thorpe, 

 that weighed fully 5| oz., this was an adult male with 

 unusually long bill, and very fat. I may here mention 

 that a good means of distinguishing this species from 

 the Great Snipe is afforded by the number of the true 

 tail-feathers, which in that bird almost always are 

 sixteen, whilst in our Common Snipe fourteen is, 

 as far as our experience goes, the unvarying com- 

 plement. 



147. JACK SNIPE. 



Scolopax gallinula. 



This well-known little bird is a common autumnal 

 visitor to this county as to most districts in our 

 Islands, but there is no authentic record of its having 

 bred in any part of them, though, as is the case with 

 many species that nest habitually in the northernmost 

 European countries, a solitary lingerer is occasionally 

 to be met with in the summer, as if to prove the old 

 adage that there is no rule without an exception. 



British ornithologists are indebted, as in many 

 other instances, to the indefatigable energy of the 

 late Mr. John Wolley for the first authentic account 

 of the breeding-habits and eggs of the Jack Snipe 

 as discovered by him in Lapland, of which discovery 

 a somewhat detailed account is to be found quoted 

 in Yarrell. 



With us at Lilford the Jack Snipe generally puts 

 in an appearance in September; the earliest record 

 I can find of killing one of these birds was on the 



