SNIPE SHOOTING. 51 



ice was almost thick enough to bear his tread. 

 We, ourselves, have done this more than once in 

 particular situations, at Pennsgrove and Dennis- 

 ville, New Jersey. A severe frost, sufficient, so 

 to speak, to seal the marshes hermetically, of 

 course, necessitates them to extend their flight 

 beyond the sphere of its influence, by cutting off 

 their supplies ; strong easterly blows, whether 

 wet or dry, drive them sooner to cover;* rain 

 makes them restless and indisposed to lie to the 

 dogs, and eventually forces them into the withered 

 rushes and cornfields ; but if caught by a snow 

 storm on the marshes as every old sportsman 

 knows is sometimes the case, in spite of what a 

 recent writer calls their meteorological faculties 

 they seem to lose their natural instinct, and will 

 huddle helplessly under the lee of a hill or bank, 

 in which situations seven and eight have been 

 killed by a farmer's boy at a single shot. 



As regards the manner of hunting " gray 

 snipe," and their sprite-like efforts to escape when 

 flushed, we are no book-makers, and the less we 

 dilate on these subjects the better for all parties 

 concerned. 



* At Mannahawkin, on the New Jersey coast, Mr. Krider has 

 found them on such occasions harboring in the "cripples." 



