155 



CHAP. XIV 



SNIPE SHOOXrNG IN CAJfADA AND INDIA. — SNIPES IN VAEIOTJS PARTS 



OF THE GLOBE. — THE CAMBEIDGE FENS. — SOLITARY SNIPE. 



SNIPE SHOOTING BY MR. STUET. 



Snipe shooting, in a country where they are abundant, 

 is a most lively and diverting sport, and most men who 

 are partial to field sports pride themselves on being 

 good snijDe shots. To acquire this knack it is necessary 

 to have considerable practice, and until I had passed 

 a winter in Ireland, where snipes were so numerous 

 forty or fifty years ago, I wasted much powder and 

 shot, and usually returned home with an almost empty 

 bag, but at last I could manage on an average to kill 

 three out of four, and I actually some years afterwards, in 

 the island of Sardinia, killed nineteen snipes in succes- 

 sion, and I began to be so conceited that I fancied I should 

 never miss a snipe again, but this conceit was soon taken 

 out of me, on my subsequently missing two or three. 

 I had every advantage in this day's shooting. There was 

 a fine soft breeze, the snipes lay like stones, and, being 

 very numerous, I could pick out my shots.* 



* I performed this feat with a Joe Manton gun with the elevated sight, 

 which was made a present to me by my old friend and schoolfellow Sir 

 C. K., Bart, when he came into possession of his extensive estates and 

 noble mansion in Northamptonshire. 



