134 FEATHERED GAME 



selves want it split up, so, apparently every- 

 body was pleased for once. 



The Snipe is a fine fellow and a worthy ac- 

 quaintance for any gunner. He usually lies 

 well to the dog and gives forth a fairly strong 

 scent which a good dog will perceive at some 

 distance. He closely resembles his highly es- 

 teemed cousin, the woodcock, in his mode of 

 life, getting his living by boring in the mud of 

 the swamps and boggy places, both sea marsh 

 and inland, feeding on the worms and larvae 

 found there just as the woodcock does in the 

 moist places in the upland and the woods. I 

 have often known of Snipe being shot in a 

 woodcock cover, and in one instance it took six 

 cartridges to bring him to grass — this, too, by 

 good woodcock shots. That they were greatly 

 surprised at seeing him there and at hearing 

 his indignant ^'Sca-a-aipe! Sca-a-aipe!" as he 

 dodged about among the branches may have 

 had something to do with their poor shooting. 

 It may also be that the thickly growing brush 

 added a few extra aerial gymnastics to a flight 

 which is under any conditions sujETiciently erratic 

 for most wing-shots. 



As a rule it is in the spring that I meet Mr. 



