FALL JACK-SNIPE SHOOTING 



northerly and eastern states, and in the south 

 in the winter ; and thousands are killed every 

 year. 



The jack-snipe is a most aristocratic and 

 handsome bird. He is about ten or eleven 

 inches long, and his wings will measure close 

 to twenty inches when spread. His back is 

 dark, almost black, intermingled with tawny 

 streaks, while his breast and sides are lighter, 

 the sides being light brown with darker 

 specks until the belly is reached, and that 

 is white. The tail is barred beautifully, 

 and when the bird stretches it, as he some- 

 times does when he is shot and falls to the 

 ground, it shows in a fan shape, something 

 like a ruffed grouse's tail when it, too, 

 spreads its tail in the death-agony. The 

 jack-snipe is built on race-horse lines, for 

 speed and agility. He is as light on his feet 

 as a thistle-down is in the air, and when dis- 

 turbed he is up and away in a quick dart that 

 puts the sportsman on his mettle. In the old 

 days it was supposed to be the proper thing 

 to shoot a jack-snipe at forty yards or so, the 

 calculation being that the bird by that time 

 would have concluded his course of twisting 

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