WILSON'S SNIPE. 249 



DIFFERENT PLANS FOR SHOOTING SNIPES. 



" Next for the snipe you must prepare 

 He darts like lightning through the air, 

 With devious wing ; a moment wait, 

 You'll see the rover travel straight." 



There are many ways in vogue for overcoming the exaggerated 

 difficulties attending the shooting of snipes ; in fact, every sports- 

 man has some particular rule of his own to guide him, and recom- 

 mends it in the strongest terms to every tyro panting to reach that 

 desirable goal, "a good snipe shot." However, laying all means 

 and modes aside, every one is well satisfied if he reaches home at 

 the close of a long day's tramp with a few couples of these wary 

 birds. When, however, snipes are very abundant on our marshes 

 and the weather favorable for shooting, it is no unusual thing for 

 an experienced shot to retire from the field with fifteen or even 

 twenty couples of them. 



All the various systems for bagging snipes may be reduced to 

 the two following plans: "snap-shooting" and "deliberate shoot- 

 ing;" both diametrically opposed to each other in practice and 

 theory, but the same in their results, as either will be found to 

 answer equally well in the present case. The snap-shot kills the 

 bird as soon as sprung, and before he enters upon the zigzag 

 course previously described ; the deliberate shot poises his weapon, 

 and coolly waits till these perplexing meanderings are at an end, 

 and then pulls the trigger upon his victim with a certainty of 

 fetching him to the ground. The irregular flight of the snipe is 

 discontinued if the bird be allowed to pursue its course for a short 

 distance, and its motion becomes uniform and steady long before 

 it is out of reach of the gun, as it is very easily killed, requiring 

 but a shot or two to bring it down. 



The following anecdote, just met with in the columns of the racy 

 "Spirit," is rather amusing: 



"It is known to all snipe-shooters that when the bird rises he 

 makes a kind of screaming noise, something resembling the sound 

 of the word escape. A noted shot of our acquaintance invariably 



