Introductory, 1 1 



for he will be only sadly bored with their 

 contents. If he is fond of shooting, and 

 might be fondest of all of snipe-shooting, if 

 he had ever been told enough about it to 

 make him try his hand at it, he may not be 

 disinclined to consider the few reasons I am 

 about to tender that seem to me best to 

 indicate fascinations which after all are more 

 readily felt than described. 



In the first place, then, the utter wildness 

 of the snipe must appeal to the true sports- 

 man. What a mysterious little fellow he is ! 

 Who can tell whence he comes and whither 

 he so constantly goes ? How sudden his 

 silent coming in the night, his no less im- 

 perceptible flittings from the moor where 

 yesterday a hundred of his relations screamed 

 and zigzagged as we floundered through it. 

 To-morrow he may be back from his journey 

 to heaven knows where, and every tussock 

 of rush and grass will again shelter his neat 

 little figure from the east wind. He is 

 nobody's property, but on the other hand 

 owns a fine strong pair of wings which whisk 



