1 90 The A ma teur Poacher 



charge, which has nothing to do with sport. If he 

 rises at some little distance, then fire instantly, because 

 by the time the zig-zag is done the range will be too 

 great ; if he starts up under your feet, out of a bunch 

 of rushes, as is often the case, then give him law till 

 his eccentric twist is finished. 



When the smoke has cleared away in the crisp air, 

 there he lies, the yet warm breast on the frozen ground, 

 to be lifted up not without a passing pity and admira- 

 tion. The brown feathers are exquisitely shaded, and 

 so exactly resemble the hue of the rough dead aquatic 

 grass out of which he sprang that if you cast the bird 

 among it you will have some trouble to find it again. 

 To discover a living snipe on the ground is indeed a 

 test of good eyesight ; for as he slips in and out among 

 the brown withered flags and the grey grass it requires 

 not only a quick eye but the in-bred sportsman's 

 instinct of perception (if such a phrase is permissible) 

 to mark him out. 



If your shot has missed and merely splashed up 

 the water or rattled against bare branches, then step 

 swiftly behind a tree-trunk, and stay in ambuscade, 

 keeping a sharp watch on him as he circles round high 

 up in the air. Very often in a few minutes he will 

 come back in a wide sweep, and drop scarcely a gun- 

 shot distant in the same watercourse, when a second 



