210 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



March, 1 882, says: "The best day's Snipe-shooting 

 I ever had in Ireland was the one referred to in 

 your letter. In India I have frequently killed 

 eighty and ninety couple of Snipe before midday 

 in the marshes (not paddy-fields or rice-fields) on 

 the banks of the Cabul River, where it debouches 

 from the hills before entering the Peshawur Valley. 

 The Snipe there are identical with those of Ireland, 

 and quite as wild and quick on the wing. In the 

 rice-fields of Bengal, in my opinion, the birds fly 

 slower and are more easily killed. 



"In Kerry I could always get from twenty to 

 twenty-five couple of Snipe, whenever I wanted to 

 make a bag ; but my average was about seventeen 

 couple, with a few Woodcocks, a Hare or two (for 

 soup), a dozen Golden Plover (the result of a lucky 

 shot), a few Teal, an odd Mallard, and frequently a 

 Wild Goose. 



" The following are some of my best bags of 

 Snipe : December 30, 1878, sixty Snipe ; Decem- 

 ber 3ist, sixty-one ; January ist, 1879, forty-seven ; 

 January 3rd, fifty ; January 4, forty-seven. Total, 

 265 Snipe in five days, the best week I had that 

 season. Fifty-five of these birds weighed i6lbs., 

 or an average of 4f oz. a piece, and this after three 

 weeks' frost, when Snipe in other parts of Ireland 

 were starving. In 1879, on January 8th, I bagged 

 forty Snipe, which weighed together i2lbs., or very 

 nearly 5oz. apiece. On January i3th, of the same 

 year, the bag was sixty Snipe ; January i4th, forty- 

 one Snipe ; I5th, forty-five ; i7th, forty-one ; i8th, 

 fifty-four ; or a total of 241 for the five days." 



To this interesting record of sport, Colonel Pey- 



