SXirES IX VAEIOUS PARTS OF THE GLOBE. 157 



legs are pale green and the toes are divided to their 

 origin. 



Those who are partial to snipe shooting in Ireland 

 generally defer this sport till the beginning of November, 

 when the frost has set in, for several good reasons. The 

 snipes, which are bred in the mountains and morasses in 

 Ireland are in good condition in September ; l)ut as re- 

 gards the shooting of them at this period, it cannot be 

 compared with the snipe shooting at a more advanced 

 season of the wdnter. Instead of the rapid and twisted 

 flight which this bird takes in cold weather, it rises in 

 the autumn in a sluggish manner, and usually takes a 

 short flight ; besides there is a considerable difference in 

 the flavour of a snipe shot in September and one that 

 has been killed in November or at Christmas. This 

 bons vivans know well how to appreciate. There are 

 two ways of shooting at a snipe : fire at him as soon as 

 he rises, or let him make his two or three twists, and, as 

 he then goes off straight, shoot at this time. The advan- 

 tage of this last is that the bird is not too much injured. 

 In the winter of 1857 snipes were found numerous in 

 many of the morasses of Ireland, and as it was a most ex- 

 traordinary mild winter, it is fair to calculate that manj-of 

 the snipes had remained in the mountains. In thisretreat 

 they are certainly much safer than in the bogs or swampy 

 grounds, where they are seldom quiet from sportsmen. 



Snipes are found in greater or less numbers in the 

 fom' quarters of the globe. I have seen them in South 

 America, in the Eepublic of New Grenada, throughout 

 the Valley of the Caiicas, not far distant from the shores 

 of the Pacific, in great abundance. The plumage of those 

 birds was the same as of those found in Europe, but in 

 size they were rather larger, which might be owing to the 



