Some Hattnts of the S^iipe. 65 



Over the bank is a field of a very different 

 nature, which looks as if it had not been 

 used for civilised agriculture for many a 

 long year. Choked up with high yellow 

 grass, it looks as if it might contain infinite 

 potentialities in the way of game. And so 

 it proves. Plenty of snipe spring up as we 

 plunge through the tall herbage. The birds 

 lie close, and are forced by the height of the 

 grass to fly at a level very convenient for 

 aiming. Half-a-dozen partridges rise singly 

 in the most confidential manner, varied by the 

 occasional flapping form of a heath-owl ; and 

 finally we almost step upon a fine hare, whose 

 fleeing form we can trace by the rapid parting 

 of the grass-tops. 



From the top of the high bank we get a 

 surprise. The hillside is here composed of 

 grass as green and firm as a tennis-lawn, over 

 which are dotted many patches of rushes, each 

 a few square yards in extent, though there is 

 no water here to account for their presence. 

 Neither are there any snipe, though the spot 

 would be worth visiting if the wind were 



