JACK SNIPE 217 
of a calm night. His voice resembled that of a goat, but 
much larger, like laughter, ha, ha, ha, for a minute or two, 
as if it was a goat with the ague. Many people have been 
frightened by it. It seems to live in bogs and marshy 
places, and people passing those places in the night and 
shearing ha, ha, ha, on a sudden, were often terrified.’ * 
The Snipe is abundant all round the Irish Sea, and 
‘breeds more or less in suitable localities. It is a common 
resident in Orkney, Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides. 
LIMNOCRYPTES GALLINULA (Uinn.). 
JACK SNIPE. 
Though from its haunts and habits little known except 
to sportsmen, this little bird is far from rare in the Isle of 
Man. Mr. Kermode even calls it plentiful. Mr. Crellin 
notes one on Ist September 1879, an unusually early date, 
as they usually arrive toward the end of that month. 
Mr. Kermode records one killed at the Point of Ayre light 
on 14th September 1883, an early date. 
In Ireland this species is supposed to be most numerous 
in the North; it is described as not very abundant either 
in Galloway or in north-western England. It occurs in 
Orkney, Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides. 
1 ‘Die Volkanschauung kniipfte, wie Jackel sich ausdriickt ‘‘an die uralten 
damonologischen Vorstellungen an, wie sie bereits bei unseren heidnischen 
Vorfahren Glaubensartikel waren.” Beim Anhéren des ‘‘meckernden’”’ und 
‘*wiehernden” Tones, der noch in tiefer Diammerung iiber dem einsamen Moor 
und Sumpf aus unsichtbarer Hohe herabschallte, dachte der Unkundige am 
wenigsten an einen harmlosen Vogel, und an die Bezeichnung des Urhebers als 
Capella ceelestis, fliegende Geiss, Moorlamm, Himmelspferdchen, u.v.a. kniipfte 
er allerlei mystische Vorstellungen. Noch heute schreckt der Bewohner 
schleswigscher und danischer Heidedorfer die unartigen Kinder mit der Spuck- 
gestalt des ‘‘Schorrebock und Horsegjék”’ (Naumann, 9, 184). 
‘La Chévre martine selon les paysans est la femelle du diable’ (Forez, Nelas 
-in Rolland, ii. 357). 
