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LYMNOCRYPTES GALLINULA
Jack Snipe.

Scolopax Gallinula, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 244,
Gallinago minima, Ray, Syn., 105. A 3.

minor, Briss. Orn., tom. y. p. 303, pl. 26. fig. 2.
———  gallinula, Bonap. Geogr. and Comp. List of Birds of E
Lymnocryptes gallinula, Kaup.
Philolimnos gallinula, stagnatilis, et. minor, Brehm, Handb. der N

ur. and N. Amer., oor

aturg. aller Vog. Deutschl., pp. 623, 624.

 

To the sportsman this little Snipe is ever an object of interest ; for it seldom rises from the marsh without
attracting his immediate attention. The Pheasant is permitted to wait his convenience, or the Partridge
is given the chance of escape until the little Jack is again flushed from the bed of flags into which he fee
just dropped. Why is it that so small an object (for its weight is not more than two ounces) commands
so much anxious regard? For the simple reasons that it is a migrant, that it is second to no bird for
the table, and that it is somewhat difficult to shoot. The Jack Snipe exhibits many peculiarities, and differs
considerably from its allies, both in its form and in its mode of life. It is more secluded in its habits,
is less easily raised from the ground, and seems to depend for safety more on the harmony of its colouring
with that of the surrounding herbage than on its powers of flight. When it does take wing, it usually settles
again within a hundred yards, and never mounts and circles in the air like the common species, from which
it also differs in never uttering the well-known scape-scape. It sometimes lies so close as to admit of its
being trodden upon; and when the sportsman goes quickly to the place in which he has marked his bird, it
cannot be seen, despite the most searching scrutiny—the bird all the while being perchance at his heel,
or half covered with the leaf of a flag or some other plant with which its plumage blends in colour. How
beautiful are its iridescent tints! what lovely hues of purple, green, and buff! how harmoniously are they
arranged! If an artist wish to see them in perfection, he must accompany the sportsman to the field or
the morass ; for they fade as the life of the bird ebbs away.

I have stated that the Jack Snipe is a migrant; for it is only in autumn, winter, and the early part of spring
that it is with us. In the summer it departs to breed in northern lands, mostly to those parts of Norway,
Sweden, Finland, and Russia which lie within the arctic circle. In England, Scotland, and Ireland I have
received no reliable information of its having bred, though we now and then find solitary birds in summer.
The numbers which are frequently seen late in the spring are only apt to mislead the olbsermer, they all quit
this country before the beginning of June, which is soon enough to enable them to arrive at their breeding-
quarters by the time the snows have melted. Mr. Smither, who lives on one of ae great heaths near Farnham
in Surrey, wrote me, on the 9th of May 1861, We have many Jack stale with us at present, ae : have
great hopes some will stop and nest ;” but as I oa heard that they did so, I or a the ne at eo
after departed to countries more to their liking. Why they should not find a aa ae ae
they do a winter one, around the great ponds of Frencham and the soppy en a ne a
and herbage of the extensive moors in that neighbourhood, I am unable to say. 1e Common Snipe breeds
annot tell my readers, any more than I can say why some of the
25, 1865) to be seen at Stoke, Cliveden, and Drop-
It is the habit of this little

there; and why the Jack Snipe does not Ic
tens of thousands of Bramblings, which are now (March a

: : ee ; i : .
more, in Buckinghamshire, do not, like the Chaffinch, stay and breed with u ae
sses of Lapland for this purpose; but as certain as he goes, it is equally

n g he extensive mora .
eee... September more; in October, at the

i “tS nay again be seen, in
certain that he will return. In August a few may again St, ae
fall of the moon, ereat flights will arrive and take possession of all suitable si l tish ;
nd will a4 i 1 ive an account of the “great bags” of this bird that
and will there remain if not dispersed or killed. To give an ¢

have been shot in a day would answer no purpose ; es
in ; ary par reland, 1
annually takes place in England and nearly every part of Ireland, :
i : ses unknown to us, or 1t w
-ebled every year in some countries Ie
‘_ ei ] a | difference in the appearance of the sexes, one style of plumage bemg common
There is but little external differen ee
i “+. oenerally clean-moulted and in very fine ss
1 Priv ‘ n, it is generally clean

. When the bird arrives in autumn, g ane
ah while in others the same part 1s mottled brown. I at one time thoug ¢
not been able to satisfy myself that they are so, though ae
This variation in the colourmg requires
It is just possible that the mottled-

but when we remember the wholesale slaughter that
is evident that its numbers must be
ould long since have been extinct.

very beautiful purple rumps,
these were sexual distinctions; but J have ae
certain that some of the birds with purple rumps are females.

ive it
3 : ae ave been able to give to 1t.
more attention from ornithologists than I have é

risti i@ birds of the year.
brown colouring of the rump may be a characteristic of the young