Snipi ' - Shooting. 70 1 



more and more faintly from the distance, very much like a note of 

 derision. 



The other characteristic for which the snipe is noted is the eccen- 

 tricity and irregularity of its arrival and stay with us during the 

 migrations. That snipe are "uncertain birds" is a proposition which 

 has universal acceptance among those who shoot over the wet mead- 

 As a rule, more dependence is to be placed on their coming in 

 the fall than in the spring. But even in autumn they cannot be 

 counted upon. Sometimes they arrive singly, or a few at a time, and 

 those which .ire killed to-day are at once replaced by others; or 

 again, for a week or two at a time, the meadows may be worked 

 over without starting a bird, and then all at once they will be found 



great numbers, and will then as suddenly and as completely dis- 

 appear. A piece of ground which at evening affords splendid sport 

 may !><• visited at dawn next day, and it will be found that the birds 

 which were there have all departed. Happy is the man, therefore, 

 who finds the snipe plenty, ami he is wise who shall take advantage 

 of the present opportunity. The advice, Carpe diem, applies with 

 more force to snipe-shooting than it does to a good many others of 

 the affairs of lift 



As early as the last of August, an occasional snipe may be found 

 on the meadows; but it is not until the latter part of September that 

 the migrants begin to arrive in any numbers. They are now in 

 good order — often very fat — and are lazy, and lie well to a dog, if 

 the weather is right The pleasantest time to shoot them is during 

 the warm days of October and November. 



At such a time the birds are loath to rise, and will permit the 

 dog to approach quite close to them before taking wing. On 

 dark, cloudy days, on the other hand, especially if the wind be high, 

 there is no such thing as getting a point on them, for they will 

 1 distance of thirty or forty yards, and often the Right of 

 the first one and his sharp skeap t skeap will be the signal tor every 

 snijx: on the meadow to rise into the air and circle around for five 

 or ten minutes before pitching down again. In such weather as 

 this. th«- only chance of getting within shot of them is to work 

 down the wind. — thus reversing the usual order of things in shoot 

 ing. — and to keep the dog close in. Snipe always rise against 

 the wind. and. 1>\ advancing on them with it at your bark, they 



