As the Great Snipe has been called the Double Snipe, on account of its being superior in size to the common species, so the subject of the present chapter is known as the Half Snipe, from being contrasted with the same bird, and being considerably smaller. The present species is far less abundant than the Common Snipe; yet still it is often seen, more frequently, perhaps, than the other, by non-sporting observers, for it frequents not only downright marshes, but the little streams which meander through meadows, the sides of grassy ponds, and the drains by the side of canals, where the ordinary pedestrian, if accompanied by a dog, will be very likely to put one up. Its food and general habits are much the same as those of the Common Snipe; but it rises and flies off without any note. Its flight is singularly crooked until it has made up its mind which direction it intends to take; indeed it seems to decide eventually on the one which was at first most unlikely to be its path, and after having made a short round composed of a series of disjointed, curves, it either returns close to the spot from which it was started, or suddenly drops, as by a sudden impulse, into a ditch a few gunshots off. I have seen one drop thus within twenty yards of the spot where I stood, and though I threw upwards of a dozen stones into the place where I saw it go down, it took no notice of them. It was only by walking down the side of the ditch, beating the rushes with a stick, that I induced it to rise again. It then flew off in the same way as before, and dropped into the little stream from which I had first started it.
From this habit of lying so close as to rise under the very feet of the passenger, as well as from its silence, it is called in France la Sourde, 'deaf'. In the same country it is known also as 'St. Martin's Snipe', from the time of its arrival in that country, November 11; with us it is an earlier visitor, coming about the second week in September.
A few instances are recorded of the Jack Snipe having been seen in this country at a season which would lead to the inference that it occasionally breeds here; but no instance of its doing so has been ascertained as a fact.
THE SANDERLING
CALIDRIS ARENARIA
Winter—upper plumage and sides of the neck whitish ash; cheeks and all the under plumage, pure white; bend and edge of the wing and quills blackish grey; tail deep grey, edged with white; bill, irides, and feet, black. Summer—cheeks and crown black, mottled with rust-red and white; neck and breast reddish ash with black and white spots; back and scapulars deep rust-red, spotted with black, all the feathers edged and tipped with white; wing-coverts dusky, with reddish lines, and tipped with white; two middle tail-feathers dusky, with reddish edges. Young in autumn—cheeks, head, nape, and back variously mottled with black, brown, grey, rust-red and dull white. Length eight inches. Eggs olive, spotted and speckled with black.
The early flocks of Sanderlings often consist of old as well as young birds, which is not the common rule with Waders. They are plentiful on our sandy shores, and they sometimes visit inland waters. By April the return passage begins. The note is a shrill wick! They arrive on our shores early in autumn, keeping together in small flocks, or joining the company of Dunlins, or Ringed Plovers. In spring they withdraw to high latitudes, where they breed; they are not, however, long absent. Yarrell mentions his having obtained specimens as late as April and June, and I have myself obtained them as early as the end of July, having shot at Hunstanton, on the coast of Norfolk, several young birds of the year, on the twenty-third of that month; and on another occasion I obtained a specimen on the sands of Abergele, in North Wales, in August. This leaves so very short a time for incubation and the fledging of the young, that it is probable that a few birds, at least, remain to breed in this country, or do not retire very far north. Little is known of their habits during the season of incubation, but they are said to make their nests in the marshes, of grass, and to lay four eggs.
Like many other shore birds, they have an extensive geographical range, and are found in all latitudes, both in the eastern and western hemispheres.
THE CURLEW SANDPIPER
TRINGA SUBARQUATA
Bill curved downwards, much longer than the head. Winter—upper tail-coverts and all the under parts white; upper plumage ash-brown, mottled with darker brown and whitish; breast the same colours, but much lighter; bill black; iris brown; feet dusky. Summer—crown black, mottled with reddish; under plumage chestnut-red, speckled with brown and white; much of the upper plumage black, mottled with red and ash. Length seven and a half inches. Eggs yellowish, with brown spots.