SNIPE SHOOTING 97 



or ruined from some other cause. The whole mass will sally forth, 

 apparently looking for new pastures. I have seen a large body 

 arrive thus at the shore of a sedge-grown lake. They wheeled round 

 and round, detaching one squad here and another there, as the 

 ground invited, until all had finally settled to the number of several 

 hundreds. 



A good dog for snipe shooting is not so difficult to obtain as for 

 cock shooting, which is done in thick coverts. The dog par excellence 

 for snipe shooting is a well-broken retrieving setter. It is always a 

 great convenience to have a retriever when snipe shooting, for with- 

 out considerable practice it is not easy to mark down the dead bird 

 so that you can walk directly to it, a feat still more difficult when 

 several birds rise together and you are lucky enough to get a right 

 and left. This pleasing consummation is more often attained in 

 snipe shooting than in any other wild shooting in Canada. 



The hairy body and limbs of the setter enables him to stand 

 the cold water of the marshes much better than the more delicate 

 pointer. One man can do better with a brace of dogs in the field. 

 There is a great deal of pleasure in watching a pair of dogs accus- 

 tomed to work and live together. A brace of dogs will answer 

 equally well for two guns. Although often jealous of each other, 

 good dogs will make their every move subservient to the interests of 

 their master, and seem to understand and take as deep an interest 

 in the sport as the human biped who owns them. 



All open meadows are, of course, much exposed to the wind, 

 and must invariably be shot ' down wind ' reversing the usual 

 order of things in shooting. It is the habit of the snipe to rise 

 against the wind, and by advancing on them with the wind at 

 your back they are forced to fly towards you for a little distance, 

 and give closer and easier shots to the right or the left than if 

 approached in the ordinary manner. If you are not blessed with 

 a dog which will properly quarter the ground, working with nose up 

 wind, and crossing and recrossing every thirty or forty yards, you 

 may find it difficult to make a good bag on a very windy day, and 

 in this case had better give the dog the advantage of ' the wind in 

 his nose '. 



If your dog, however, understands his business, the birds will 

 be less likely to rise out of distance ; and even if he runs in upon an 

 odd one now and then, on the whole you will fare better than by a 

 dead beat ' in the eye of the wind'. Somehow it is a fact that 

 although snipe must more distinctly hear you coming towards them 

 down- wind, they will crouch and lie closer than when you are beating 

 your way towards them up- wind. 



When preparing for their autumn migrations snipe appear to 



