Picked from the Prairie Province 247 



how many careful men will get astray when describ- 

 ing their shooting, but they only deceive themselves 

 when they tell of too long strings without a reason- 

 able number of misses. 



"Hullo!" said Thompson, "yonder comes old 

 snuff-'em-out over our ground. Now watch him and 

 you'll see what crack snipe form looks like." At 

 the home end of the ground a tall, erect figure was 

 steadily moving toward us. It suddenly halted, and 

 almost instantly we heard a quick crack-crack ! as 

 though both barrels had been fired at a single bird. 

 The distance was too great for details, but Thomp- 

 son said, " Watch him gather." The figure resumed 

 its march, only to halt, stoop, move on a few yards, 

 and again stoop. " Good ! " grunted Thompson. 

 Five times the advancing gun stopped single birds, 

 and presently its bearer was near enough for the 

 watchers to distinguish every movement. " Now, 

 look out. I think there's two birds right in front 

 of him, and if he happens to get between 'em, you'll 

 see why I just dote on his style. Ha! " The cause 

 of the sudden exclamation was the flushing of a 

 brace, one bird darting due east and the other 

 as truly west, and both going like all possessed. 

 Crack ! and the right-hand bird spun end over end. 

 Crack ! and the second spread its wings stiffly and 

 slanted down, a glint of white showing where it 

 turned over on the mud. " That's the way ! Good 

 old eye ! " roared the delighted Thompson ; then 

 quickly added, " Now, watch him retrieve." Mon- 

 roe, loading as he went, walked straight to the last 

 bird and picked it up. Then he back-tracked to 

 the firing-point, faced to the right, and walked as 



