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CHAPTER II. 



Snipe-shooting — How to shoot snipe — Mr. Foster (G.P.O., Dublin) — 

 Formation of snipe's wings — Enemies of snipe — Snipe to be 

 approached noiselessly — Advantages of old-fashioned guns — The 

 utility of hammers — Small charges of powder for snipe-shooting — 

 Guns for snipe-shooting — Superiority of Irish snipe — Standing 

 rules for snipe-shooting — Size of bore for snipe guns — E.G. v. 

 black powder — Judging distance of snipe — -Size of shot and con- 

 centrators for snipe-shooting — Testing guns — Sizes of shot — How 

 to beat a snipe bog — Flight of Irish snipe compared with others^ — 

 Use of drag-rope for snipe-shooting — Deterioration of Irish snipe- 

 bogs — Dangerous walking — Anecdote of day's snipe-shooting with 

 Lord Cxormanstown — How to avoid being bogged — Throwing guns 

 — The delights of being bogged — Flights of incoming snipe and 

 woodcock — Time of year to shoot snipe — Driven snipe — Meagre 

 accounts regarding natural history of snipe— Notice of arrival of 

 snipe by bog-rangers — Feeding-grounds of snipe in hard frost 

 — Shooting snipe on the ground — Snipe using their bills to rise — 

 Reason of woodcock rising noisily at times — Flight of jack snipe 

 — Snipe-breeding in Britain — Cooking of snipe — Young of full 

 snipe — Young of jack snipe — Anecdotes of the late Mr. Foster — 

 A good snipe-shot a good shot anywhere. 



The flight of a snipe is very peculiar, and requires a 

 different style of shooting from that of any other bird 

 — a style all its own ; and after shooting for a time at 

 ordinary birds, such as pheasants, partridges, and the 

 like, it as a rule requires some little practice to get into 

 the way of accounting for snipe. With a ' right and 

 left ' at snipe it is necessary to snap at the first bird 

 the instant it turns up-wind after rising from the 

 ground. To accomplish this the bird must be taken 



