SNIPE-SHOOTING. 53 



snipe-shooting, I like a dog ; for the day's sport is heigh- 

 tened any number of degrees : and to shoot a snipe over 

 an intelligent dog is much more satisfactory than to shoot 

 many more without one. Then, without the assistance of 

 a dog, it seems to me, that shooting is deprived of half its 

 pleasure ; but in this particular kind of shooting, he must, 

 of necessity, be very well broken, staunch, and a dog that 

 has a good deal of speed and bottom, as the ground to be 

 worked over must necessarily be large. In willow thick- 

 ets, or upon boggy grounds devoid of thickets, a well-bro- 

 ken dog is of great value, not only on account of his as- 

 sistance in finding birds, but also in retrieving them after 

 being shot. Again, many snipe, killed clean, are hard to 

 find without the assistance of a dog. 



SNIPE-SHOOTING. 



As snipe afford a variety of shots, some easy, some 

 difficult, and not a few very difficult, both on account 

 of their rapidity of flight, and long shots required, 

 I think them as difficult a bird to make a bag of as 

 any shot in the open. And now, in order to make a 

 good bag it is necessary for the shooter to possess a good 

 deal of endurance and perseverance, as the walking is of- 

 ten of the hardest kind, the find very uncertain, and the 



