172 A Book of the Snipe. 



speaking, the drier its general condition the 

 better sport will you have. If the district, 

 as is commonly the case with snipe-ground, 

 contains something of everything, it will 

 usually be found that more birds will be shot 

 on the drier portions, though more may be 

 seen on the quagmires, for wet ground means 

 splashing of both yourself and your dog. 

 Wildfowl of all sorts are even more suspicious 

 of the sounds than of the sight of an intruder, 

 and no sound carries farther on a still day 

 than that of a man plashing through shallow 

 water. 



But the places where snipe are usually at 

 their very wildest are those shaky oozy bogs 

 into which the sportsman sinks thigh -deep 

 at every step, such as that which gave me 

 daily occupation and defeat as described 

 above. Noise cannot be the explanation in 

 this case, for the skilful bogtrotter's advance 

 in such spots may be as noiseless as if he 

 were treading thick grass. The snipe-shooter 

 will constantly meet with places of this de- 

 scription in his wanderings, very often of 



