CHAPTER LXI. 



SNIPE SHOOTING. 



# * * # * A lively sport 



Affording to the fowler's varying hand, 



As wheeling, oft returns, though often sprung, 



The noisy bird " . 



Fowling, a Poem, Book v. 



THE subject of snipe shooting is one upon which so many authors 

 have written, that the reader will probably find less novelty in this 

 than in any other part of our treatise. There are, however, several 

 interesting discussions connected with the fowler's art of shooting 

 and capturing snipes, which have hitherto escaped notice by the nu- 

 merous writers upon the subject, and which it will be our purpose to 

 enter upon. Although many of our suggestions in reference to 

 the pursuit of snipe shooting may strike the reader as partaking of a 

 reiterated tone, upon a subject which some writers may have consi- 

 dered exhausted, these are, nevertheless, the results of individual 

 experience ; and in a book devoted, as this is, exclusively to water- 

 fowl, our task would be deemed incomplete, unless the subjects of 

 shooting and capturing snipes had place within these pages. Bear- 

 ing in mind the lengthened dissertations of prior authors upon snipe 

 shooting, it will be our endeavour to condense these remarks into as 

 concise a form as possible, with a view of presenting our readers with 

 the winnowed grain, apart from superfluous matter which might wear 

 the aspect of hackneyism. 



The drainage of fen-lands, though seriously detrimental to the 

 well-being of these birds, the increase of their numbers, and the en- 

 couragement of their immigrations, operates with less effect upon 

 snipes than upon wild-fowl. In every ditch with a moist bottom the 

 snipe finds food and sustenance ; and, though in a measure driven 



