822 THE WILD-FOWLKR. 



man need not be in a hurry : the fault with young- hands is, that 

 they fire too soon.* 



A g-ood snipe-shot is generally a man of active spirit, full of 

 energy, and indifferent to toil and hardship. " Craven" f says : 

 " Taken in all its bearing's, this sport is a very true general test of a 

 marksman's quality." 



The spot where a snipe falls should be carefully noted, and the eye 

 kept upon it until the bird is bagged. On a snipe falling into the 

 water, it should be wiped before being put into the pocket, or it will 

 not keep so long as others. 



Not a word should be spoken when going down a snipe-walk : 

 silence must prevail, or the birds will rise out of range — darting off 

 like arrows, crying as they go, " Shaich ! " or " Schayich ! " 



On passing beside dykes, and along the banks of rivulets and 

 snipe-walks, the sportsman should keep a look-out for snipe-trails, 

 the unerring index of their whereabouts. 



The jack-snipe (Scolopax gallinula) generally arrives, in small 

 numbers, about the third week in September. They are the most 

 sluggish little birds to be met with, seldom stirring until within a 

 few inches of the sportsman's feet; when they rise in silence, and dart 

 oft' in a zigzag flight, which puzzles young sportsmen exceedingly, as 

 they discharge barrel after barrel without effect. 



Late in the season, they sometimes emit a feeble sort of squeak on 

 rising. 



The greater numbers of snipes which are vended in the London 

 and provincial markets are not killed with dog and gun, but are 

 caught in nets similar to plover and lark-nets (vide ante, page 302), 

 by drawing them over fens and marshes at night, after the manner 

 of poaching for partridges. Hampers-full of these delicate table- 

 luxuries are captured in this manner. Netted snipes always fetch a 

 better price than those killed with powder and shot ; and so the 

 poacher (if such he may be called) has an advantage over the sports- 

 man who vends his game. 



* " If you are naturally a sportsman, you will soon leai-n how to approach and to 

 kill them, albeit, on the iirst few trials, the eccentricities which they practise on 

 the wing, and the elfish ease with which they seem to evade the contents of both 

 barrels, will leave an impression on your mind, which, however annoying, then be- 

 comes a very pleasant and excitiag reminiscence, after you have learned how to 

 knock them do^vn right and left secundum artem." — Kridcr''s Sporting Anecdotes, 



t Vid,e Craven s Recreations in Shooting. 



