UPLAND SHOOTING. 145 



subsidence or evaporation, abounds with food of the kind they 

 most relish ; and in such places they are often seen to feed. But 

 in such, as the ground is either bare or but sparsely covered, they 

 vi'ill rarely lie, so as to afford sport, until late in the season, when 

 the young grass has acquired some height — when the sun has 

 gained power, and repose and epicurean habits have rendered the 

 Snipe tame and lazy. 



If, however, we can find ground such as I have described, inter- 

 spersed with tussocky bogs and tufts of long grass, affording shelter 

 to the birds, into which they will run, and among which they 

 will skulk in ordinary weather, so soon as they discover the ap- 

 proach of intruders, the chance of sport will be very considerable. 



In cold, dry winds, however, the birds will not even /eed, 

 much less lie to the dog, on such ground ; and consequently we 

 must in such weather look for them in very different places ; 

 places, indeed, in which no books of natural history, that I know, 

 would lead us to seek them, and in some of which the authori- 

 ties tell us they are never to be found. 



But, to proceed in order ; the Snipe when flushed never rises 

 down wind, the resistance of the air appearing to be necessary to 

 enable him to get under way. On his first rising, which he does 

 for the most part about breast-high, he hangs on the air a little, 

 before he gathers wing, and then darts away up wind, if possible, 

 if not, across wind, tack and tack, with extreme rapidity, and 

 with a zig-zag flight, which renders them puzzling objects to a 

 beginner. I think, however, that to a person accustomed to their 

 motions, they are as easy a bird to kill as any that flies. Mr. 

 Audubon states, in allusion to this supposed difficulty of killing 

 Snipe, that he who can kill thirty in succe.ssion, without missing 

 one, is a good hand at any kind of shooting. I suppose Mr. 

 Audubon is speaking ironically ; for if by can kill, he means 

 habitually, or even frequently kills, he speaks of an impossibility. 

 No man ever lived who could kill, in that sense, either thirty 

 Snipe, or thirty of any other bird that flies, in succession. I 

 have seen many crack shots in my life, both here and in Eng- 

 land ; but I never saw the man, and never expect to see him, 

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