SNIPE SHOOTING. 63 



the reports instantly followed ; the dogs dropped, 

 and in this way, alternately flushing and firing, 

 we beat out the rushes, and drove the remaining 

 birds into the range of meadow below. 



o 



Language could scarcely describe the admira- 

 ble steadiness with which the dogs moved over 

 this first portion of the ground. No two veteran 

 scouts, suspicious of an ambuscade, could have 

 shown greater wariness in the heart of an ene- 

 my's country. 



They trailed through the rustling rushes as 

 gingerly as if they were treading among circum- 

 ambient steel-traps. 



No new casualty in flushing or falling, no 

 proximity to living or dead birds, could draw 

 them an inch farther than prudence warranted. In 

 one instance, while Czar was on a point, a bird was 

 killed which fell plump on the old fellow's head, 

 without discomposing his equanimity in the least. 

 T. declared that he never winked. A few minutes 

 afterwards, from some peculiar movement of the 

 game, he became wedged, as it were, between 

 two snipe, and we never shall forget the sudden- 

 ness with which he dropped, the wary, wide- 

 awake look of his red muzzle, as he flattened his 

 jowls down on the moist earth, nor the cool, saga- 

 cious air with which he rose on his legs, when 



