82 BAY-SNIPE SHOOTING. 
snugly, a section of the object is presented in every 
direction. 
Wooden stools are decidedly the best, especially 
where it is desirable that the birds should alight, 
and are in general use. They are made of pine, and 
painted the distinctive colors of their prototypes ; 
thus sickle-bills, marlin, and jacks, are all brown with 
dark spots on the back and wings; willet, as hereto- 
fore described; yellow-legs, dark mottled grey on 
the back and wings, and white beneath ; dowitchers 
brown on the back and wings, and yellowish-white 
below; bull-head plover light on the back, with dark 
breasts ; robin-snipe light grey on the back and side, 
and reddish beneath. But the snipe are not always 
discriminating, and afew varieties will answer every 
purpose. 
Stools are easily made and moderate in cost, and 
every sportsman should have not less than twenty- 
five of his own, so that in case those that he finds at 
the country taverns for the public use are engaged, 
he may have some to fall back upon—although 
twenty-five are not a full supply. They may be 
carried in a bag or basket, with their feet and bills 
removed ; and the basket will be useful to hold lunch, 
ammunition, or game. 
Extempore representations can be made from the 
dead birds, although they are not quite so good as 
the wooden ones, by cutting a forked stick with one 
end much longer than the other, and thrusting the 
longer point into the bird’s neck and the shorter one 
into its body. It may then be stood up in the sand, 
