SNIPE AND WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 255 



thrown away in doing so. To secure sport, therefore, in the af- 

 ternoon, the best way is to continue beating the stubbles, feeding 

 grounds, and edges of woods and dry swamps, and to secure what 

 birds are found, until the scattered birds shall begin to call ; then 

 to follow up those which have been flushed in the morning and 

 markeJ down, into the precise spots or as near as may be, and 

 beat up for them with patience, turning and returning until every 

 bird has been accounted for. 



The quail is a difficult bird to shoot in a covert ; it flies rapidly, 

 as fast in a thick cover as in the open, carries shot a long dis- 

 tance, and falls suddenly in the midst of its flight. It is necessary 

 for the sportsman to keep close up to his dogs when in covert, 

 and not to lag behind on any account whatever, lest he have only 

 his labor and an empty bag for his pains. 



When ruffed grouse have been flushed while hunting quail, it is 

 not difficult to bag them if the precaution is taken to shoot fully 

 three feet ahead of him if he be sailing down on the wind with 

 the wings set ; otherwise, when he rises within range, he hangs at 

 first, and if one is cool and shoots quickly, it is not so hard a 

 matter to drop him. 



SNIPE AND WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 



The first game shooting after the winter is over, is that of the 

 English or Wilson's snipe As soon as the frost is out of 

 the ground, snipe may be hunted in low wet places and meadow 

 swamps. Here they may be found resting for a time before 

 going further north to their breeding places. When first arrived, 

 they are wild and shift constantly from place to place ; sometimes 

 they fly in knots of 10 or 20 birds, and rise high, soaring and de- 

 parting out of sight. No other sport depends more upon the state 

 of the weather than this ; nor is any other more uncertain, on ac- 

 count of the errratic and capricious nature of these birds. The 

 most promising conditions for sport are the clearing of a violent 



