400 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



Snipe-shooting is said to be a knack. If so, 

 it is one which is not difficult to acquire by 

 anyone who is a fairly good shot. Half the 

 snipe which escape the gun are missed by being 

 too hurriedly fired at. Twice during its flight 

 does a snipe offer itself a comparatively easy 

 mark, viz., when it first rises, and just as it 

 turns into the wind. It is for this reason that 

 snipe-shooting with the assistance of a steady 

 pointer or setter is rendered so much easier than 

 when the birds are merely walked up, the oppor- 

 tunity for taking the bird as it rises being thereby 

 afforded. It is thus necessary to be either quick 

 or slow. I cannot myself lay claim to be con- 

 sidered other than a very average shot ; neverthe- 

 less, I have always been able to hold my own 

 when snipe-shooting. When one considers how 

 very delicately a snipe is framed, how extremely 

 thin is its skull, how slender and brittle are its 

 bones, and therefore how easily it is killed, it be- 

 comes evident that there is no necessity to shoot 

 hurriedly at it, provided the sportsman watches 

 for the opportunity it offers as it turns up wind. 

 Being but a small bird, a snipe often appears 

 to be much farther off than it really is, and this 

 is especially the case when the light is uncertain. 



When so much has been written in praise of 

 fox-hunting, it would seem somewhat superfluous 

 for me to attempt to add anything by way of 

 eulogy. Nevertheless, since any treatise bearing 

 on British sports would be incomplete without 



