I remember being delighted with one such bag 

 of only some sixteen couple which I made under 

 these conditions, very few of the birds composing 

 it being shot at a less distance than forty yards, 

 and many being stopped considerably further off. 



Snipe are generally wild early in the morning, 

 and unless the ground to be worked is very 

 extensive, it is better not to begin shooting too 

 early in the day. By about ten o'clock the sun 

 will be well up and hot, and, in the case of a 

 limited area of ground, that hour is quite early 

 enough for beginning shooting. I have shot snipe 

 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with short halts for refresh- 

 ment during the day ; and where the ground is 

 sufficiently extensive to afford it, should advise 

 others to do the same, provided only that they 

 are physically capable of standing the toil and the 

 sun. 



Snipe shooting in Mysore, where the sun is far 

 less trying than it is in the vicinity of Madras 

 and in Madura, and where the climate is so 

 favourable, is far less exhausting than in the latter 

 localities ; and yet in the former, I have (once) 

 drunk a full dozen bottles of soda-water during a 

 day's shooting, and I always took out a dozen 

 in case of need. In shooting from the various 

 stations down the South Indian Railway from the 

 city of Madras, and also in Madura, I always 

 took out a box of ice, and cooled my soda-water 

 bottles therein. Without ice, I do not think that 

 I could have endured a long day's toil under the 

 fierce sun of those parts. In Mysore, however, 



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