BULLET AND SHOT 



It frequently happens, when the men employed 

 are new to the work, that some excited dunder- 

 head, rushing forward to pick up a bird which 

 has been shot, puts up a number of others out 

 of range, most of which would have afforded 

 chances had the line advanced without any such 

 exhibition of undesirable zeal. If a bird should 

 fall in front and in the beat over which the line 

 is about to pass, it should be picked up during 

 the advance ; but should it have dropped in a 

 portion already beaten, the line should halt while 

 one or more men are sent to retrieve it. If, on 

 the other hand, a shot bird should be lying in fresh 

 ground which will not immediately be traversed by 

 the line, it is better, if there is the least doubt as to 

 subsequent easy recognition of the place, to call a 

 halt, while the sportsman goes with one or two men 

 straight to the spot, so that, should other birds rise, 

 they too may be added to the bag. 



When the ground is very wet, and the birds 

 rising very wild on account of their hearing the 

 noise made by the men splashing through the 

 water, it is often necessary for the sportsman to 

 walk in advance along one of the dry bunds, 

 causing the men to walk at some distance behind, 

 also upon bunds. This manoeuvre on a wild, wet 

 day, when it is very hard to get within shot of 

 the birds, will often enable a small bag of snipe 

 to be made, most of the birds being shot at longish 

 range, and being to the full as curly and rapid 

 on the wing as are their most wideawake cousins 

 in wet weather at home. 



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