SNIPE SHOOTING 327 



quickly, flying high out of range, with its bill extended 

 straight ahead. It can pitch to the ground from its 

 highest flight, darting downward with stiffened wings 

 and alighting with the greatest ease. 



In the course of migration the birds stop in favorite 

 places where food is abundant, and oftentimes there 

 remain till the weather becomes unpleasant. As a 

 rule, they arrive in the South in a lean condition. 

 When lean they are also wilder, regardless of weather 

 conditions. 



Shooting then, if limited to times when they are 

 wild, is shooting in its most difficult phases. But as 

 mentioned before, such difficulties of snipe shooting are 

 not the average of snipe shooting. 



Snipe shooting as to possible quantity varies widely, 

 one locality with another. One locality may contain 

 but a few snipe to reward the shooter's efforts, while 

 in other nearby localities they may fairly swarm, as 

 in Louisiana and Texas in the fall and spring months, 

 when the birds are migrating. In those States they 

 generally remain several weeks to enjoy the food abun- 

 dance. Some scattered ones in the South may be 

 found all through the winter. The heavy rains of fall 

 and spring, frequently a downpour of days in the far 

 South, soften the fat alluvial prairie lands, thereby 

 fitting hundreds of square miles for the snipe's habitat. 

 In particularly favorable sections of the prairie, cotton, 

 corn and sugar fields, they may at times be found in 

 thousands. A dog in such shooting is an encumbrance, 

 except to act as a retriever. There is no woodcraft 



