104 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
markets there, on the coast of Brazil, in the rice fields 
of Egypt; they are found in Java and Sumatra, and in 
almost all the islands of the Indian Sea, in Madagascar, 
Ceylon, Japan, the Falkland Islands, in the desolate 
solitudes of the Southern Atlantic : in the arctic regions 
of Siberia, and in every part of the old Continent, on 
the Pacific Slope, and almost everywhere in the United 
States. They afford sport to the citizens of the extreme 
South, and are digested with toast by the epicures of 
the far North. By sportsmen everywhere they are 
welcomed. 
“T noticed to-day that they bothered you consider- 
ably. You are a fair shot for an inexperienced one,— 
ought to be good at chickens, but ducks would worry 
you. Youare asnap shot, your gun discharging al- 
most at the instant of touching the shoulder. There 
are two occasions when one can shoot snipe successful- 
ly. First, before they have got fully started, firing at 
them as soon as they jump from the grass; second, 
when they have flown thirty or forty yards. When 
they have gone that distance they settle into a compar- 
atively steady flight, and are not difficult to hit. What 
it requires then is a hard hitting gun, and the shooter 
to be a good judge of distance, speed and the velocity of 
shot. The medium period of shooting, the time be- 
tween these two, is the time when most new snipe shots 
shoot. This is when the snipe display their agility, 
and try to twist themselves into a spiral or gimlet of 
life. Not succeeding after going fifteen to thirty yards, 
they recognize the fact that they can’t turn themselves 
inside out, and settle down to a steady flight. The be- 
ginner cracks away at them at this time, misses many 
and gets disgusted,—his disgust not being alleviated 
