50 WING-SHOOTING. 



SNIPE. 



The snipe is perhaps the most widely distributed of all 

 the feathered creation, and it breeds in almost every 

 country under the sun. Snipe spend the winter months 

 in the South, and as Spring advances they gradually work 

 their way to the North, and arrive in this country about 

 the middle of April, but their time of arrival depends upon 

 the forwardness or backwardness of the season, and the 

 state of the weather. After the frost is quite out of the 

 ground, and two or three rains have visited us, it is quite 

 early enough to hunt for snipe. Some years they remain 

 with us for two or three weeks, while in others they drop 

 in for a day or two, and then go to the North, to their 

 breeding-grounds. In fact, it is quite a common occur- 

 rence to find snipe quiteplentiful on one day, and only a 

 bird or two on the next. They appear again during the 

 latter part of September, after the equinoctial storms, and 

 remain till driven away by severe frosts. In early Spring 

 there is no bird more variable in its habits, which are 

 affected, more or less, by the weather ; and during cold 

 winds they may be found in most unlikely places. High 



