CHILL OCTOBER 217 



cessful result, as I have often known more to 

 fall to one shot, but the number killed at a 

 fairly long range is rather a matter of luck than 

 skill ; and nothing comes of the ambuscade, as 

 the flock disappears out of sight without giving 

 my companion a chance. 



Just beyond the bend of the stream is a con- 

 siderable-sized swampy patch of reeds known as 

 the " old river," doubtless a former bed of the 

 Add, which has changed its course in more than 

 one place for natural and artificial reasons, almost 

 within living memory. This is a certain find 

 for snipe, and must be carefully worked ; so 

 we walk along, one on each side, with the keeper 

 between us, but not in the middle, as it would 

 in places take him nearly over his head ; while 

 the old retriever splashes about in the centre, 

 as if he understood and enjoyed the job as is, 

 indeed, the case. We have put No. 8 cartridges 

 in the right-hand barrel, but kept our No. 5 in 

 the left, as there may be a stray duck or some 

 teal left, although a large flock of the former flew 

 away when the double shot was fired at the 

 plovers. It is wet, and tiresome walking, and 

 none the more pleasant that the snipe _ seem to 

 be wild to-day. Half a dozen are " scape scap- 

 ing " out of range of us before we have well 

 settled to business, and the first and second shots 

 are fruitless of result, and perhaps ought not to 

 have been fired at all, as the birds were almost, 



