104 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



markets there, on the coast of Brazil, in the rice fields 

 of Egypt ; they are found in Java and Sumatra, and in 

 almost all the islands of the Indian Sea, in Madagascar, 

 Ceylon, Japan, the Falkland Islands, in the desolate 

 solitudes of the Southern Atlantic ; in the arctic regions 

 of Siberia, and in every part of the old Continent, on 

 the Pacific Slope, and almost everywhere in the United 

 States. They afford sport to the citizens of the extreme 

 South, arid are digested with toast by the epicures of 

 the far North. By sportsmen everywhere they are 

 Welcomed. 



" I noticed to-day that they bothered you consider- 

 ably. You are a fair shot for an inexperienced one, 

 ought to be jgood at chickens, but ducks would worry 

 you. You are a snap shot, your gun discharging al- 

 most at the instant of touching the shoulder. There 

 are two occasions when one can shoot snipe successful- 

 ly. First, before they have got fully started, firing at 

 them as soon as they jump from the grass ; second, 

 when they have flown thirty or forty yards. When 

 they have gone that distance they settle into a compar- 

 atively steady flight, and are not difficult to hit. What 

 it requires then is a hard hitting gun, and the shooter 

 to be a good judge of distance, speed and the velocity of 

 shot. The medium period of shooting, the time be- 

 tween these two, is the time when most new snipe shots 

 shoot. This is when the snipe display their agility, 

 and try to twist themselves into a spiral or gimlet of 

 life. Not succeeding after going fifteen to thirty yards, 

 they recognize the fact that they can't turn themselves 

 inside out, and settle down to a steady flight. The be- 

 ginner cracks away at them at this time, misses many 

 and gets disgusted, his disgust not being alleviated 



