BAY-SNIPE SHOOTING. 1. 
is hardly possible to speak within bounds—more than 
a hundred having been killed at one shot—but pro- 
bably a hundred separate shots are occasionally fired 
by each sportsman in the course of a day, and with 
the breech-loader even more. There have been times 
when twenty-five pounds of shot have been expend- 
ed by one gun, but those days exist no longer, -and 
it is rare to use more than five pounds where the 
load does not exceed an ounce and a quarter. 
The uncertainty of the flight is the principal draw- 
back to bay-snipe shooting, although experience can 
in a measure overcome the difficulty; but to the 
citizen confined to certain days, a selection of time 
is an impossibility. The height of the season ex- 
tends from August 15th to the 25th for the bay- 
birds proper; and from August 28th to September 
8th, for golden plover; and if a north-easterly storm 
should occur at this period, it will be followed by an 
immense flight. 
Dry seasons are never good, and so long as the 
weather remains warm the birds will tarry in their 
northern latitudes ; when the meadows are parched 
for want of rain, they become too hard for the birds 
to perforate, and the latter, being unable to feed, 
must migrate elsewhere; but when they are soft 
with moisture, the older snipe that have left their 
progeny at the far north, linger on the feeding- 
grounds and wait for the latter to arrive. They 
seem to make it a point to send back portions of 
theirnumber from time to time to look after the young ; 
and on such occasions, both the messengers and the 
