SNIPE SHOOTING. 97 



in afortniglit they had all gone away. It would appear from tliis, 

 that the kmd of weather has a great deal to do with the flights of 

 the snipe ; and that they have a very powerful and unerring instinct 

 which chrects and guides them, as to the localities where sufficient 

 lood will be found for a certain length of time. 



_ Snipe shooting, as we have abeady observed, afPords a large por- 

 tion ot amusement to the sportsman. Mr. Thornhill considers it 

 no bad test of a man's love of genuine sport, to feel a strong par- 

 tiahty for this kind of shooting. He observes :— " Snipe shooting 

 IS a sport the best calculated (grousing excepted) to try the keen- 

 ness of the sportsman, to ascertain his bottom, and if he can stand 

 laoour, water, mire, sv/amps and bogs. He should be possessed of 

 a strong constitution, not Hable to catch cold, and have all the 

 fortitude, as v/ell as exertion, of a water-spaniel; he should l^e 

 haoitually inured to wet, dirt, and difhculty, and not be deterred 

 by cold or severe weather." Mr. Daniel says:—" Snipe shooting, 

 when the birds are plentiful, is an excellent diversion : they are 

 said to puzzle the marksman by the irregular twistings of their 

 flight when first sprung ; but this difficulty is soon suimounted 

 u the birds are suffered to reach to a certain distance, when their 

 flight becomes steady, and easy to traverse with the gun ; there is 

 no reason to be apprehensive of then: getting out of the range of the 

 shot, as they will fall to the ground if struck but sHghtly with the 

 smallest grain. Snipes, like the woodcocks, and many other bii'ds, 

 always fly against the mud ; therefore, by keeping the wind at his 

 back, the sportsman^ has this advantage of the bird when it riser, 

 that it presents a fairer mark. These birds are scarcely good tiJl 

 November, when they get very fat. In hard, frosty, and more 

 particularly in snowy _weather,_ snipes resort in nmnbers to warm 

 jprings, where the rills continue open, and run with a gentle 

 jtream ; these, on account of their lon^ bills, are then the only 

 places where they can hunt for food. Snipes v/ill generally lie well 

 to a pointer, and some dogs have a singular knack of fincUng and 

 itandmgto them." 



There is much contradiction among sportsmen as to the easiness 

 )f shooting snipes. Some still contend they are very difficult to 

 Dring to the ground,_ and others make a light matter of it. To be 

 30ol and collected is a great point gained; for where there is 

 perturbation and flustering, the chances are very much against the 

 shooter. The motion of the bird is irregular, and is supposed to 

 irise from the nature of its visual organs, being so constructed as 

 "0 see things in daylight very indistinctly and olDscm^ely ; and this 

 nduces those gyrations and whirling motions which prove so em- 

 Darrassing to the sportsman. It must be remembered that m 

 mipe, as well as in woodcock shooting, there is what is called a 

 'cnac/c to be obtained; a rapidity of action, and promptness of aim, 

 vhich practice, joined to a particular temperament of body and 

 nind, alone secure. It has been remarked, on this subject, " It 

 s thus we see, in some writings, that the snipe is the hardest to 



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