NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



which, well and delicately cooked, is not to be sur- 

 passed by any table bird in the world. The pity of it 

 is that there is so little of it ! I once heard a viveur 

 say, ' ' Ah, if only the snipe were as big as a partridge ! " 

 Well, if that were the case, the bird would be in such 

 immense demand that it would become, I fancy, in no 

 long time an extinct creature. 



Although snipe in England are not as plentiful as 

 they were a hundred years ago, before drainage had 

 made such immense strides over the country, some 

 excellent bags are still made here and there. In 

 November, 1899, only a month or so before his death, 

 the late Duke of Westminster killed to his own gun, 

 on the Alford withy-bed of his Eaton estate, 65 snipe, 

 the total bag for the day being 118 birds. Within the 

 last score of years 53 couple of snipe have been shot 

 on the Blenheim estate in a single day by Lord 

 Walsingham, the Duke of Roxburgh, and the Hon. E. 

 Marjoribanks. And on the same estate 48^ couple 

 have been shot by two guns during a day's sport. 

 This was in the heart of Oxfordshire, by no means a 

 marshy or snipe-favoured county. 



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