122 ON THE WING. 



the sportsman follows. Especially is this true in cold, 

 clear, windy weather. 



When they arrive from the South, they are always 

 wild, and constantly vacillating from one ground to 

 another; and this uncertainty is very discouraging to 

 the sportsman, unless he has excellent feeding-grounds 

 near him. 



The rule for snipe-shooting is to beat down wind 

 while hunting, if the nature of the ground will permit. 

 If possible, it will pay the hunter well to travel to the 

 extremity of his ground, in order to take advantage of 

 this fact, as the snipe almost invariably rise to wind- 

 ward. But if this cannot be done, the hunter must 

 compromise by working in an oblique direction. When 

 the dogs are on a point, always make it a rule to have 

 the bird to leeward of you ; that is, to have the wind 

 blowing on your back ; it will much increase your 

 chance of success. 



As with the woodcock, there is much judgment and 

 alertness to be used in marking down this bird, after he 

 is flushed and has gone off on his zigzag movements. 

 Sometimes, after doubling and sailing away almost out 

 of sight, he will come back and drop within a dozen 

 feet of his starting-point. 



A good, steady setter is the dog for this business, 

 although many sportsmen prefer the pointer. But I 

 have noticed that the latter dog seems to suffer more 

 from the cold wind, and sometimes flatly refuses to 

 enter the water, which is seldom the case with the set- 

 ter dog. 



These mud-paddlers are so irregular in their move- 



