34 ^ Book of the Snipe, 



an organ suddenly deprived of air, and the 

 little dog, recovering his composure at the 

 comfortable roar of the gun, raced off to pick 

 up the slain, forgetting his fears as completely 

 as a girl after a nervous, ghosty night does at 

 the breakfast-table ! But all his life he never 

 failed to tremble at the sound of drumming 

 snipe ; nor do I ever hear it myself without 

 recalling with a lump in the throat the affec- 

 tionate little companion of many bitter winter 

 dawns on marsh and mere, and even on 

 the ocean itself. Eheu ! eheu ! There are 

 bitter moments in life, but I want none more 

 bitter than that in which, after three years 

 of being shot at instead of shooting in the 

 sport called war, I returned to greet my 

 little spaniel, now grown doddery and blind, 

 and, less fortunate than Ulysses, found that 

 I was not recognised. 



Migrant snipe arrive at these shores in 

 small numbers in August, a few more in 

 September, the great bulk in October and 

 November — departing northward again spar- 

 ingly in February, very numerously in March, 



