SNIPE-SHOOTING 397 



offer as many attractions as any other. Un- 

 fortunately, it is just one of those sports 

 which is annually becoming more difficult to 

 procure, inasmuch as the gradual reclamation 

 and drainage of land in those districts which 

 formerly provided excellent feeding-grounds for 

 snipe and other marsh-loving birds has driven 

 them to seek their food in other places, and every 

 acre of such ground is eagerly snapped up by 

 some of the many votaries of the sport. Ireland, 

 of course, remains much as it was, in so far as 

 the ground is concerned ; but I fear, from all 

 accounts, that Irish shooting of any kind is not 

 what it used to be, and the preservation of game 

 is difficult. A few years ago a friend of mine, 

 who owns a considerable estate in one of the 

 Southern Irish counties, told me that, on proceed- 

 ing to shoot over one of his snipe-bogs one 

 morning, he met a man with a gun just leaving 

 the bog, and was informed by him that it was 

 useless his going there to shoot, as he had only 

 succeeded in getting a few snipe, and that he 

 was the third person who had been over the 

 ground that morning. All of these three indi- 

 viduals had been poaching, neither of them 

 having right or permission to set foot on the 

 land. I have already referred to the many happy 

 days I have spent in wandering over the Irish 

 bogs, my sole companion a steady old setter. 

 Delightful days, never to return, alas! Miles 

 of bog and heather to wander over, scarce a 



