BAY-SNIPE SHOOTING. 85 



but more time and patience are required to learn the 

 use of this invention than of the lips. It will be far 

 better for the sportsman who intends to pursue this 

 sport, to practise with the organs that nature has 

 given him, however much time or perseverance may 

 be necessary, and then there will be no danger of 

 leaving his whistle at home. 



As before remarked, the great drawback to the 

 sport of shooting bay-snipe is its uncertainty ; if the 

 flight has not come on, or a westerly wind has driven 

 the birds to sea, or a heavy north-easter carries them 

 with it high in air and prevents their stopping 

 there will be no shooting ; and the most experienced 

 hand will often receive the comforting assurance 

 which is always bestowed upon the inexperienced, 

 that if he had only come two weeks sooner, or de- 

 ferred his visit two weeks longer, he would have 

 been sure of fine sport. There are nevertheless cer- 

 tain general rules that furnish a tolerable criterion ; 

 and laying aside the spring shooting, which occurs 

 in May, and is extremely uncertain, the main flight 

 of small birds such as dowitchers and yellow-legs 

 commences about the tenth of July, and of large 

 birds about the fifteenth of August. Each lasts about 

 two weeks. 



The flight of large birds usually terminates with a 

 short flight of yellow-legs, and is followed by the 

 plover, which are succeeded by the kriekers. An 

 easterly storm generally brings the birds, either by 

 bearing them from their northern homes, or by forc- 

 ing them in from the sea, where the main body is 



