PAKTRIDGE SHOOTING. 201 



through him, and the flavor of a wild duck, if 

 he is lucky enough to have it on the board, 

 leaves a sort of twang on the palate, which the 

 prince of gourmands might envy. We have a 

 friend who never tastes shad but once during 



o 



the season, and that is on his first snipe shooting 

 excursion in the spring. The remembrance of 

 that shad, taken out of the river in front of the 

 house where he generally puts up, lasts him 

 during the year, and he is always anxious to be 

 off on the succeeding spring, that he may taste 

 another. 



After dinner you may have a glass of punch, 

 a chat, or a rubber of whist, if the party be large 

 enough, and then to bed. Before retiring, T. 

 showed his portrait of the countryman to our 

 host, who, after he had heard the circumstances 

 of the meeting, recognized it at once, and laugh- 

 ing heartily, readily put us on the track of the 

 snipe preserve, assuring us that the fellow was 

 one of the veriest churls and most renowned skin- 

 flints in the state. 



" I can't tell exactly where snipe harbor on 

 his lands," said he, " for he lives several miles 

 inland from the shore, but it is off the road about 

 a half a mile back from the brick mill. Of 

 course, your dogs can't miss finding them, if 



