IQO A Book of the Snipe. 



will be had in bogs and wet fields, from which, 

 at your first entry into them, a preliminary 

 and most disheartening exodus of snipe took 

 place. If — and this is always an "if" worth 

 testing — a fair number have remained behind, 

 you may have a chance at almost every one. 



So it is with flooded, tuft-studded ground. 

 There are days on which a single bird, or 

 perhaps two birds, will elect to remain on 

 each little islet instead of joining their com- 

 panions in the scurry and rush that will most 

 surely welcome your approach. These in- 

 dividuals will nearly always lie well, some- 

 times like stones ; in the latter case, great 

 should be the execution, for except snow, 

 no background — to be Irish again — makes 

 snipe look bigger and blacker and easier to 

 hit than water. You must wade for them, 

 there is no help for it, and cold work it will 

 sometimes be, though no ill effects need be 

 feared unless you loiter about afterwards, or 

 are naturally prone to cold and rheumatism, 

 in which case you will do well to avoid snipe- 

 shooting altogether. It is impossible to keep 



