276 SHORE BIRDS 



the preserves are large certain tracts might be closed 

 to advantage at all times, with the result that some of 

 the ducks and snipe would remain to breed on the 

 club property. 



The size of the bag should be limited by law, as it 

 now is in many States, and supplemented by club rules ; 

 so that the killing of three hundred and forty of 

 these birds in one day will no longer anywhere be 

 tolerated. 



The flight of the snipe is peculiar. When flushed 

 he flies rapidly for a short distance to right or left ; in- 

 stantly reverses his course and goes in the opposite 

 direction, and continues to pitch and dart rapidly from 

 right to left, all the while uttering a squeak which is 

 said to resemble the word escape, and escape he al- 

 ways does from the novice, and quite often from older 

 and more experienced guns. 



After going some distance the snipe settles down to 

 a course more regular. It was formerly considered 

 most important to wait until the snipe flew straight 

 before firing the gun. He was, however, often out of 

 range before making the change in his flight, and the 

 sportsmen of to-day, with their light hammerless guns, 

 treat him as a right or left bird, as he may be going, 

 and aiming a little ahead have a better chance of bag- 

 ging him than those who used to wait to "see the 

 rover travel straight." 



The snipe has never been for me a very difficult 

 mark. His flight is silent. There is no noisy roar of 

 wings such as the grouse and partridges make to dis- 

 concert the shooter. The shots missed are easily ac- 

 counted for ; for it is seen that the bird has decided to 



