l84 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



All game was there valued by the thump it made 

 on striking ground. With no dog and no more 

 labor than in an after-dinner stroll, I have shot 

 snipe on that ground about as fast as I could 

 load the gun and pick up the birds. Waiting for 

 a shot was the last thing that troubled me, for 

 there seemed at times a bird to every square yard, 

 and there were few days for six weeks when a 

 bird would not spring within shot at almost every 

 step I took ahead. Most of them curled around 

 sideways over the water when I was walking 

 down wind, though the ground was so open on 

 the land side that there was little trouble in re- 

 trieving those that fell there. But there was no 

 need of walking down wind, for there were enough 

 straight-away shots within easy range. About 

 the only question involved was, like that of duck- 

 shooting, to land the birds where it would not 

 take too long to retrieve them, and let all shots 

 go that would not accomplish this. 



Like the woodcock this snipe defies the pot- 

 shooter, while almost all other game-birds at 

 times present the fairest of chances for the rank- 

 est of murder. But on this ground occurred a 

 piece of pot-shooting on these snipe so remark- 



