234 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



to re-enact these scenes, may not be my lot, why should 

 they not be the reader's ? If you are a proficient in 

 the art, you will make such a bag of snipe as an 

 English sportsman scarcely ever dreamt of. Go, by 

 all means do not stop to hesitate and I will guarantee 

 you an amount of sport that will induce many a future 

 return. 



Those gentlemen who live in the cities that surround 

 these sporting localities are well aware of the excellence 

 of the shooting at this season upon the prairies, and 

 make up large parties to have a week or so at the Wilson 

 snipe. In the course of a day's shooting on the Grand 

 Prairie, I have met visitors from Louisville, Cincinnati, 

 and St. Louis, marching like companies in skirmishing 

 order, and keeping up a regular fusilade. But so great 

 is the extent of hunting-ground, and so numerous the 

 game, that in each day, over the same beat, no visible 

 diminution can be observed. We do not mean to say 

 that no English sportsman ever made a trial of these 

 western haunts, but we are thoroughly impressed that 

 the excellence of these grounds is far from as widely 

 known as it deserves, and that many persons possessed 

 both with means and inclination are unaware that 

 within thirty-six hours' journey of New York they can 

 have such snipe shooting as is to be enjoyed in no 

 other portion of the globe. 



As to all the haunts of snipe, the visitors must go 

 well prepared with a 'good supply of waterproof boots, 

 for the walking is always damp, sometimes wet ; also 

 a good stock of flannel clothing will be found indis- 

 pensable, for at this season the weather is frequently 

 so variable, that although noon may be oppressively 

 warm, sunset and the hour of the tramp home espe- 



