How to walk for and shoot Snipe. 83 



*' dead aft," but to take things as they come. 

 Even if he should miss a great proportion 

 of the birds bolting up-wind, the few he 

 will kill by the quickest of snap-shots will 

 not be the least proudly remembered when 

 he comes to fight his battles over again to 

 himself in the interval between tumbling into 

 bed and the advent of slumber, — a delightful 

 period of after-joy, the especial property of 

 sportsmen. This is the time when the fences 

 are topped again one by one, the bump-bump 

 of the grouse on the heather is heard again, 

 or the boil of the salmon and the bend of 

 the rod-top to his mighty wrench beheld as 

 vividly as when they thrilled you in the 

 morning hours. 



There is, however, one situation in which 

 it is occasionally advisable to make a de- 

 liberate choice of shooting against the wind 

 even if it be troublesome to do so, and that 

 is when you are about to commence your day's 

 sport near the leeward march or boundary 

 of your shooting rights. Any attempt to get 

 the wind ''aft," or even on "the beam," may 



