Some Hatmts of the Snipe. 49 



done with reading about snipe and have be- 

 gun to shoot them, some of your very best 

 sport may be had on occasion in places which 

 do not bear the sHghtest resemblance to any 

 I am about to depict. 



Let us suppose it to be the first week in 

 December, — for then our ground will hold 

 nearly all the snipe it is likely to get for the 

 winter, — the weather open, and the first frost 

 of the year yet to come. As we are merely 

 going on a reconnaissance of, and not an 

 attack on, our little friend's position, we will 

 go unarmed. Our object is to note the 

 places from which birds spring, the numbers 

 and the manner in which they do so, and, if 

 possible, the spots on which they again alight. 

 All this for future use. 



Our starting - place is a rough bit of un- 

 cultivated land of about two acres not far 

 from home, with a few tumble-down cottages 

 on its borders. With the exception of a leet 

 cut through its centre, whose waters work the 

 mill below, the place is dry so far as we 

 can see, and a cart-track running across it 



