SNIPE-SHOOTING. 321 



thing like the same sport. Instead of the ringing scream and 

 rapid eccentric flight with which they dart away from the shooter 

 through the thin frosty air of a winter's day, they flutter up 

 with a faint cry from his feet, fly straight forward, and pitch 

 ahnost immediately ; while, to the gourmand, the difference in 

 flavour between a bird placed on the table in September and 

 December is almost as great as between a spent salmon and one 

 fresh run from the sea. On the other hand, those birds which 

 arrive here in October, during the equinoctial gales, are so thin 

 and worn out with their long flight as scarcely to be worth 

 powder and shot. 



"In shooting these birds, with or without a dog, it is always 

 better to hunt down the wind, as, unless it is blowing a hurri- 

 cane, they always fly against it. By this means the sportsman 

 will get two shots for one he would otherwise obtain. The 

 popular idea that the slightest graze will bring down a snipe is, 

 like many popular ideas, a fallacy ; no bird requires more care- 

 ful marking. After being fired at, I have known them fly nearly 

 out of sight when shot clean through the body, and then drop 

 suddenly dead. This happens most frequently when very light 

 shot has been used ; and for that reason I would always recom- 

 mend the shooter to load the second barrel with No. 6 shot. 

 It has another advantage. He will often meet hares, teal, and 

 duck at distances where his light shot would be thrown away ; 

 and it is well to be prepared for them. If a snipe stops scream- 

 ing and stoops in his flight after being fired at, it is a pretty 



