CHAPTER III. 
BAY-SNIPE SHOOTING. 
Tuer various writers on the different kinds of sport 
in our country have generally devoted their atten- 
tion to upland shooting; to the quail, woodcock, 
English snipe, ruffed grouse of the hills, dales, and 
meadows, to the prairie-chicken of the far west, or to 
the larger game—the ducks, geese, and swans of our 
coast; and the few suggestions to be found in 
Frank Forester’s Field Sports, or Lewis's Ame- 
rican Sportsman, are of little assistance in discuss- 
ing the mode of capture of their less fashionable 
and less marketable brethren called bay-snipe. 
Having no guides to aid me but my own experience, 
and differing frequently in my views from the opi- 
nions expressed by the scientific ornithologists, I 
approach the consideration of this subject with diffi- 
dence; and for the many errors that a pioneer must 
inevitably commit, I crave the indulgence of the 
pitblie. ; 
The birds that are shot along our shores upon the 
sand-bars or broad salt meadows, or even upon the 
adjoining fields of upland, are among sportsmen 
termed bay-birds or bay-snipe; and although includ- 
ing several distinct varieties, present a general 
similarity in manners and habits. They are ordi- 
