UPLAND SHOOTING. 167 



had been, if I do not err, a very early fall of snow, succeeded 

 by hard frosts early in November, and after that, uncommonly 

 mild and open weather. 



In autumn Snipe-shooting there is nothing to be observed, 

 except that the birds are more composed and less restless 

 than in the spring ; that, unless persecuted and driven from the 

 ground by incessant shooting, they linger on the same mea- ^^-l" ^■^■^ 

 dows, until the coldness of the weather compels them to travel f\ / 



southward ; that they lie much better to the dog, allowing / ' 



themselves to be pointed steadily, and rarely flushing out of /i-^e.vC 

 fair distance ; and, to conclude, that they are much fatter, much 

 larger, much easier to kill, and much better eating than in the ; 



spring season. I have never seen them in bushy ground, or 

 even among briars, in the autumn, though I cannot state that 

 they never take to such places. 



Mr. Audubon states the weight of the American Snipe at 3 

 oz. The average weight of the English species is 4 oz. I 

 never, but once, weighed any American birds. I was then ^,^, /f, 

 struck by their apparently unusual size ; when I weighed "-^ ^ i^ , 

 twenty-five together at the tavern at Pine Brook, and they 

 averaged within a small fraction of 5 oz. each. 



The Snipe is delicious eating, inferior to no bird that flies, / ^' ' ' 

 save the Upland Plover, and the Canvass-Back Duck. Like //^»,, i 

 all birds that feed on, or near the water, he must be edilen fresh, y^ f 

 A true gastronomer abhors Woodcock, Snipe or wild fowl, . 

 in the slightest degree high. Gallinaceous game are the better 

 for keeping, wild fowl and waders are ruined by it. If pos- ^* ^nv 

 sible they should be eaten within twenty-four hours after being ^ ^3^ 

 killed. ^ 



They should be carefully picked by hand, on no account » ' 

 drawn — that is a practice worthy of an Esquimaux, as is that 

 of splitch-cocking and broiling them — the neck should be bent 

 downward, and the bill run transversely through the body, im- A 'a/ 

 mediately below the pinions; one leg thrust through the sinew > , .^ ^ 

 of the other thigh — they should be roasted, at the outside, ten 

 minutes before a very quick, brisk fire ; with no condiment, or " 



