250 Sporting Sketches 



and cannot help it. Something, perhaps, in the 

 relative proportions of the very long bill, the wing, 

 and body, or in the shape of the wing, or, what is 

 more probable, in a peculiarity of the wing-stroke, 

 causes the light body to shift irregularly in the act 

 of attaining high speed. To credit the snipe with 

 an intelligence capable of wing-manceuvres intended 

 to puzzle a man is absurd. Probably one-half, or 

 more, of the snipe killed were crossing, or at such 

 an angle to the line of fire that the twisting helped 

 not at all. Birds that knew enough to play tricks 

 might reasonably be expected to also know enough 

 to play them in the only direction in which they 

 were worth playing. Many a snipe has dodged 

 out of the line and back just in time to catch the 

 full charge. The fact is, a snipe, upon a calm day, 

 is apt to fly in any direction, but in a breeze the 

 favorite route appears to be up-wind. A properly 

 educated snipe-shooter knows this, and unless he be 

 one of those who prefer the more or less straight- 

 away shot, he works down-wind, which means that 

 birds rising before him and trying to fly up-wind 

 must pass at either side, and offer a chance in 

 which the dodging ceases to be a factor. And there 

 is more than the outwitting of the dodging in the 

 down-wind work. The cross-section of a snipe 

 going straight-away is not bigger than a silver 

 dollar ; the rather long wings, too, are then edge-on 

 to the gun, while the vulnerable head and neck are 

 more or less protected by the body. These condi- 

 tions are apt to mean wounded instead of instantly 

 killed or winged birds. On the other hand, a cross- 

 ing snipe needs must expose one entire side and 



