THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
In the woodcock the syringeal box was less expanded than in the jack 
and common snipes, but it was similarly composed of four fused rings. 
The most striking feature of this syrinx was the degenerate condition of 
the intrinsic muscles (fig. 3, B.t.), which appeared to terminate on the 
hinder border of the syrinx. As a matter of fact, however, a number of 
fine tendinous fibres would be found to run to the normal point of insertion 
in the middle of the first bronchial semi -ring. 
Dr P. H. Bahr, who was present at the meeting, made the following 
remarks ; “ The interesting discoveries of Mr Pycraft have added another 
to the list of specialized structures for which the Scolopacince are remark- 
able. To my mind, the fact that the syrinx of the jack snipe is provided 
with an intercalary bar of cartilage, as Mr Pycraft has already pointed 
out, explains a great deal. 
“ During the course of a number of experiments which I published in 
1907, I experimented with both the primary wing -feathers and the 
rectrices of the jack snipe, but was not able to produce any characteristic 
sound with either of them. Wolley has stated, and the accuracy of his state- 
ments are proverbial, that in Lapland this snipe while soaring, at a great 
height over its breeding -grounds, makes a sound comparable to that of 
a horse galloping over a hard road. We have now, in view of Mr Pycraft’s 
interesting discovery, some reason to believe that the origin of this sound 
is vocal.” 
Distribution in the British Isles , — In this country the jack snipe makes its 
appearance between the middle of September and the middle of October, 
and departs towards the end of March or the beginning of April ; to the 
east, in India, it arrives in certain localities as early as the end of August, 
and remains till April. It should, however, be noted that stragglers oc- 
casionally reach this country some weeks before the general migration 
commences, and that individual birds have been known to remain through- 
out the summer, although they have never been proved to breed in any 
part of the United Kingdom. During the colder months of the year it is 
generally distributed over the same ground as the common snipe and, 
like that bird, shows a marked preference for certain localities; but 
is generally much less numerous, and though on occasions many more 
jacks than full snipe may be killed in a day, such instances are quite 
exceptional, and as a rule the latter outnumber the former, by about 
twenty to one. 
Food . — In the matter of food the jack snipe is partly a vegetarian. 
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