THE JACK SNIPE. 
281 
near the village of KilkeUj in the same county, and also the pro- 
perty of that nobleman. The old bird was first seen fluttering about 
before the pointers to decoy them from the young. I have found 
them, I think, in two or three other instances, but cannot fix the 
time : the above I have noted in a diary I am in the habit of keeping 
of any remarkable event.'’^ It was believed until the last few years 
that the jack snipe did not breed in any part of Great Britain, 
in the Orkney or Shetland Islands, but two or three instances 
are said recently to have occurred.* I have not, however, met 
with any statement so satisfactory on the subject as the last here 
given. 
Mr. G. Matthews, during his tour in Norway, observed snipes 
and jack snipes at all places as he moved northward. On the 
19th or 20th of August, 1842, he shot some young jacks 
at Alten. When returning down coast in autumn, the com- 
mon snipe was not met with, though the jack was, being 
often found on the smaU. islands seaward, when the frost was not 
so hard as on the mainland. He shot some of these in Sep- 
tember and October, on the island of Loppen. 
The jack snipe is generally said by authors to be solitary, but 
it is commonly as well as correctly remarked in Ireland, that at 
all times where you find one, a second will not be far distant; 
although a ^‘' wisp^'’ or small flock of common snipes may occasion- 
ally be seen, I have never heard of the other so occurring. 
On January 28th, 1837, when passing a shop in Belfast where 
a number of jack snipes were exposed for sale, I was attracted by 
one with flesh-coloured legs and toes, and on inspection of the 
whole lot, found the legs varying from the ordinary greenish-grey 
to a decided flesh-colour : those exhibiting the latter were sup- 
posed to be the young of the year — in other respects the birds 
seemed alike, but the plumage had received too rough usage to 
be properly examined. 
I do not find sufficient data with respect to the jack snipe in 
England and Scotland, to enable a proper comparison to be insti- 
Yarr. ‘Brit. Birds,’ vol. iii. p. 36. 2nd edit. ‘Zoologist,’ June 1849, p. 2456. 
