Habits and Habitat of Snipe. 1 6 



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respect they are the trout amongst game 

 birds ; they will act differently in the same 

 place, under identical conditions of weather, 

 on every one of the six days of a week. 

 Then perhaps for a fortnight they may seem 

 to have adopted at last a certain line of 

 conduct, rising consistently wild, lying close, 

 or bundling off in a mob as the case may 

 be, giving you to understand that they are 

 showing you what they mean to do in future, 

 and that you may make your arrangements 

 accordingly. In the light of this you pro- 

 ceed to attack them in a certain manner, 

 and it is ten to one that they defeat you 

 by the one device you have not provided 

 for. 



I remember once being thoroughly ** bested" 

 in this way by the denizens of a certain very 

 rotten two acres of marsh which lay in a 

 hollow surrounded by high hills. The place 

 held hundreds of snipe, and for several years 

 I had tried every method of circumventing 

 them, always with the same result. No 

 sooner was the first shot fired than from 



