SNIPE SHOOTING. 319 



from its favourite fens, there is generally no lack of food and shelter 

 for it elsewhere within our island. 



Ireland abounds with snipes ; the moisture and richness of the soil, 

 and the extent of bog- and marsh-land, rendering that country a 

 favoTirite resort of the species. The sportsman who has trod an Irish 

 bog in pursuit of snipes, has partaken of the sport in its true nature j 

 and, though distasteful to some people, the best and finest snipe 

 shooting within many thousand miles of this country, may be had in 

 the emerald isle. It often happens, whilst wading up to the knees in 

 an Irish bog after snipes, that the sportsman meets with wild-duck 

 and teal ; so that, whatever may be the disadvantages, there are 

 varieties attending it which repay the sportsman for his most inde- 

 fatigable exertions. 



Snipes abound in every quarter of the globe. In North and South 

 America they are generally abundant,* though much more so in 

 some of the states than in others. f 



During the rainy season, they are found in tropical climates ; and 

 in winter, the rice-fields of Egypt swarm with them.| In Mada- 

 gascar they are abundant. In the arctic regions of Siberia, in 

 Sweden, and many other countries, travellers allude to the excellent 

 snipe shooting they found. Mr. Lloyd § speaks of having had ex- 

 cellent snipe shooting near Gothenburgh; also in the marshes and 

 bogs in the vicinity of Trollhattan. Though the marshes at the 

 latter place are not extensive, yet a good shot might bag without 

 difficulty fifteen or twenty couple in the course of a few houi*s, and 

 thirty couple in seven or eight hours j and these the common or 

 double snipe : sportsmen in that locality being careless of expend- 

 ing their ammunition on jack-snipes. Major Forbes, in his " Eleven 

 Years in Ceylon," says he found snipes more abundant in Ceylon 

 than any other game. Indeed, every travelhng sportsman should be 



* " They are found in the middle and northern states only in the spring and fall, 

 when they are frequently shot in great numbers. In the winter they frequent the 

 rice-grounds of the south." — 8kinner''s Dog and Sportsman : America, 1845. 



f '• The great multitude breed far to the northward not only of the United 

 States, but of the British provinces, in the vast marshy tracts which extend inland 

 nearly to the Arctic Ocean. Many, however, make their nests and rear their young 

 in the secluded morasses of Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and a few 

 pairs here and there throughout the eastern and middle states, becoming less fre- 

 quent as they advance toward the south, so far, probably, as the north of Penn- 

 sylvania." — Herherfs Field Sjports in the United States : a.d. 1848. 



X Krider's Sporting Anecdotes : a.d. 1853. 



§ Vide " Field Sports of North Europe ;" by L. Lloyd, Esq. : a.d. 1830. 



