BAY-SNIPE SHOOTING. 79 
thorough the deception, the more favorable will be 
the result; and although they can frequently be 
attracted by an accurate imitation of their call 
within reach of their destroyer, crouched in the open 
field and unaided by decoys, they will approach 
much better to the concealed sportsman and well 
made stools. A stand is usually erected near some 
pond or bar where the birds are in the habit of 
alighting—and this can be built in half an hour of 
bushes or reeds—high enough to conceal the sports- 
man comfortably seated in his arm-chair ; and as the 
grass has become by the latter part of August a dull 
yellowish green, he may even shelter himself from 
the sun’s rays by a brown cotton umbrella, if he be 
delicate or ease-loving. His, elothes should assi- 
milate to the color of the landscape, and be as cool as 
possible—for the temperature is often oppressively 
hot ; and a waterproof should always be at hand in 
case of rain, to cover, not ~so much the sportsman 
as his gun and “ammunitidn, which may be seri- 
ously injured by~dampness and salt air combin- 
ed. ; Pe — 
If it is impracticable to. build a stand, and the 
locality is sandy, a hole may be dug, with the exca- 
vated nated around it, and the sportsman may 
deposit himself upon his Mackintosh at the bottom. 
However, to one unaccustomed to the posture, it is 
difficult to rise and shoot from such a position, and a 
comfortable seat is far preferable; and besides, the 
mosquitoes are thicker near the earth ; the breeze has 
less effect and the sun more. 
