SNIPE-SHOOTING. 347 



Small strips of marshy land amidst the plain, extending 

 some distance down the slopes, and about a hundred yards 

 broad, through the centre of which a narrow current ran, or 

 rather oozed, and covered with reedy grasses, were the 

 abiding places of numerous snipe, splendid birds, and rather 

 larger than our own. Being a party of five, including our 

 host, and our ground narrow, the shots were frequent and 

 rapid, and many a poor snipe must have received the 

 united fire of five or six barrels directed at once upon his 

 insignificant body. Many spots of this description being 

 scattered over the station, and snipes frequenting all of 

 them, we had only to change our quarters from one to 

 the other as, in fact, did the birds when, having made 

 a bag of thirty couple, and the day being somewhat ad- 

 vanced, we returned to luncheon, clean our guns, and make 

 a campaign against the quail before our departure in the 

 evening. 



It was too early for the patches of grain, such as oats and 

 Cape barley, usually sown in the vicinity of squatters' habi- 

 tations, and the quail were now in the low scrub and brush- 

 wood in the marshy valleys, and extremely difficult to flush. 

 We had one tolerably good spaniel with us, but he was too 

 wild to hunt close and do the steady work that was required 

 of him. The birds absolutely rose sometimes between our 

 legs, and, owing to the thickness of the cover, were very 

 difficult to find when killed, and much of our time was lost 

 in searching for them; so that, being rather fatigued with 

 our morning's shooting, we returned with about ten brace to 

 the cottage. On our way homewards I observed a very 

 peculiar bird alight on the branches of a tree near a creek, 

 which, having crept up to with some caution, I killed, and it 

 turned out to be that extremely rare and beautiful species 

 called the cinnamon bird. The back, wings, and head of a 

 bright cinnamon-colour, the breast of a delicate white, and 



