INDIAN SNIPE-SHOOTING 271 



delightfully independent of all kinds of shooting ; 

 it has ever been my favourite sport with the gun, 

 and I must beg the reader to excuse me if I am 

 somewhat over-enthusiastic regarding it. 



I shall never forget my first day's snipe-shooting 

 in India. I had never seen so many snipe in my 

 life before. In about four hours a brother officer 

 and I succeeded in bagging thirty-six couple and 

 a half, besides some teal and a bittern. We lost 

 many more from want of a retriever, being unable 

 to find them in the long matted water-grass when 

 they fell. This was by no means a large bag for 

 India, but it was the best day I have ever ex- 

 perienced, either before or since. 



Snipe have an awkward habit of falling into 

 holes in rough ground when shot, and without a 

 good retriever they are often excessively difficult 

 to find. Their plumage also seems to harmonize 

 strangely well with the colour of the ground, 

 unless they chance to fall on their backs, when 

 their snow-white under-plumage renders them 

 conspicuous. 



At times it is a difficult matter to get snipe to 

 rise, though, as a rule, the reverse is more fre- 

 quently the case. I have seen a snipe lower 

 its body until it was perfectly flat, its neck and 

 bill being stretched out as close to the ground 

 as possible. Woodcocks are also given to dis- 

 posing of their bodies in a similar fashion, from 

 which it has been argued that both birds utilize 

 their bills in rising, an idea as incorrect as it is 



