198 jiNECDOTE OF A DA Y' S SNIPE-SHOOTING 



Lord Gormanstown, his agent, and myself — started to 

 shoot a well-known bosf near Navan. Lord Gormans- 

 town then weighed over seventeen stone, his agent 

 fifteen, and my own weight was a little over eleven. 

 We had all been in the habit of walking bogs all our 

 lives and were regular bog-trotters, or at all events 

 considered we knew all about it, though, as events 

 proved, we had yet a good deal to learn, and the know- 

 ledge was not destined to be acquired without some un- 

 pleasant experiences. We began the day well enough, 

 and commenced shooting about half-past ten, and for 

 a time we shot fairly well. Eventually ^ve reached a 

 celebrated mossy spring, which we found to be literally 

 swarming with snipe, and ' wisps ' of them kept on 

 getting up in front of us. somewhat over-wild, as there 

 was no wind. We soon ascertained that the walking 

 was becoming just a bit dangerous, at all events for my 

 two companions, who were extra heavy, for no sooner 

 had we entered upon the moss than the entire surface 

 for some fifty yards began to rise and fall like a wave 

 of the sea. I reminded my companions of what their 

 combined weights amounted to, and what must happen 

 if they were not careful, and begged them to get on 

 the outer edges, and go forward, while the ranger and I, 

 being lighter, could walk the bog and put the birds out 

 to them ; but Lord Gormanstown was far too keen for 

 his right and left, and replied, ' I am sure I can walk 

 a bog as well as you can, and the grass here is a guide 

 to safe footing.' His agent was not quite so keen, and 

 kept a few yards behind. Lord Gormanstown, sticking 

 to his point, put his foot forward on to a tuft of grass, 

 and to our horror down he went. His agent, one of 

 the best fellows in the world (I grieve to say since 



