176 SNIPE SHOOTING. 



It has often been seen to fly beyond sight after more 

 than one pellet has passed through it. If you have 

 reason to suppose you have hit your bird, and it is 

 marked down, beat very close for it ; you may very 

 probably find it dead, though it has fled from the shot 

 apparently as strong as ever. Try your snipe ground 

 very patiently, and don't be afraid to beat it after 

 noon, though you may have tried it blank in the 

 morning : snipes often return as regularly as they 

 leave their feeding places. Neither must you take it 

 for granted they feed in spots apparently suited to 

 that purpose. Constantly, haunts, the most favour- 

 able for them to the eye, do not hold a snipe ; very 

 probably there is something disagreeing with their 

 taste, for your snipe is formed by nature for an 

 epicure — his bill is exquisitely fashioned to give him 

 a keen perception of flavour. 



In weather when snipes rise wild, as soon as 

 they flush, throw your eye well forward, and fire the 

 moment they top the cover in which you raise them ; 

 observing to suit your elevation to the distance. A 

 wild springing snipe, like a pigeon from a trap, 

 always takes a straight course in the first of his 

 flight. If he offers an oblique, or a cross, shot, you 

 must regulate your aim accordingly, and shoot well 

 forward. 



The Common Snipe {Scolopax gallinago, Linn.). — 

 The plumage of the common British snipe of English 

 authors is of veiy sober tinting, and yet so distinctly 

 marked as to be very beautiful. The upper ground- 



