14 A Book of the Snipe. 



cheerfully at him just ten yards too far time 

 after time ; or if for fun he allow a nearer ap- 

 proach, will bounce up with a squeak that says 

 as plainly as possible, '' Bo ! to a goose ! " 

 only to spurt off up wind, six inches from 

 the ground, at a pace that even Schultze 

 doesn't seem able to keep up with. He 

 is an expert at dodging, darting, gyrating, 

 shaving banks, nipping around corners, de- 

 scribing aerial figures of eight, and of all 

 the haute dcole of '' flightsmanship " gener- 

 ally. He delights in letting you know how 

 little you know. The wind is strong ; he 

 must, you reason, and the books tell you, 

 breast the gale before he can master it and 

 you. So it is obviously the correct thing 

 to walk for him down wind, for then he 

 will throw up on rising, and offer a fair and 

 pleasing shot. Does he oblige you ? Not 

 he ! He does, it is true, give the slightest 

 jump into the breeze, and is off like an er- 

 ratic bullet at an initial velocity of 30 yards 

 a second. If you can take advantage of 

 that transitory leap, you are a good snipe- 



