1 50 A Book of the Snipe. 



vacant ground, and have concluded that it 

 was not worth the trouble of pegging out 

 their small claims upon. 



It does not at all follow that they will not 

 come there just when you are grumblingly 

 giving up looking for them — i.e., at nightfall. 

 For the two things snipe require — a sheltered 

 residence and a well-spread table — they re- 

 quire, like a ^^^-haunting Frenchman, at dif- 

 ferent times. So that your vain search for the 

 birds on this splendid-looking stretch of marsh 

 brings us to one broad rule that may be laid 

 down before considering its exceptions — that 

 snipe naturally and preferably feed at night, 

 and rest in the daytime under ordinary con- 

 ditions. Ergo, it is no use to look for them 

 by day in a place which supplies board only, 

 and not lodging. The tract that is snipeless 

 at midday may be alive with them twelve 

 hours later. But that is of no use to any 

 one but a cat or a poacher : you want to 

 discover the favoured localities where the 

 birds can sleep in warmth and security, or, 

 better still, where, like Jorrocks, they can 



