196 USE OF DRAG-ROPE FOR SNIPE-SHOOTING. 



and lazily compared with those in Britain. Nor do I 

 think such shooting is to be compared with our own, 

 where the birds fly quick and sharp, and there is often 

 but little cover for them, and the ground requires to be 

 scientifically worked. There are days such as I have 

 before referred to, when snipe lie so close that it is 

 almost impossible to get them to rise without the aid 

 of a steady pointer or setter ; and when even this 

 fails, recourse may be had to the use of a long- cord, 

 here and there leaded so as to make it lie close to the 

 ground, and drawn by two men. The guns walk in 

 rear of the cord, and a great number of birds may at 

 times be shot in this way. But the men carrying the 

 cord must walk slowly. The cord should be about 

 forty-five yards in length, and the guns require to 

 keep towards its centre. It is advisable to have a boy 

 or assistant to walk in rear of the guns for the purpose 

 of clearing the rope from time to time of any obstruc- 

 tion, and he should be cautioned to be silent and 

 move as quietly as possible. The slower the men 

 with the cord proceed, the less noise the rope will 

 make. I have often known snipe lie so close that 

 they would not rise until the cord was actually on 

 them. When snipe are in this humour they will wait 

 until the guns have passed them, and then rise and fly 

 up-wind, and under such circumstances they do not 

 give the guns a chance to wait for them to steady in 

 their flight, and they are so frightened that they twist 

 and turn about for so long a time that they must be 

 shot at while they are zigzagging about, added to 

 which the having to turn round places the gun at an 

 additional disadvantage. The best plan on such 

 occasions is to let the bird go well away and take it 



