CHAPTER XVI. 



Snipe and Snipe- shooting A very Popular Sport in Bengal Snipe 

 abundant in the immediate Vicinity of Calcutta The Reputation 

 of being extremely Unhealthy not deserved by this Sport Certain 

 Rules of Precaution to be observed A Facetious Gentleman, " who 

 did not live long" A Perfect Boot for Snipe-shooting still a Want 

 Good Shooting-grounds and Good Bags Migration of Snipe 

 Early and Late Bags Good, Bad, and Indifferent Shots Varieties 

 of Snipe in Bengal Sham " Shikarees" A Good Day after a Dis- 

 appointment A Narrow Escape Annoyance caused by Harriers 

 and other Hawks Unwelcome and Unexpected Encounters. 



SNIPE in Bengal, and quail in Behar, are what partridge and 

 grouse are in England and Scotland, the unfailing annual gift 

 of Nature to the sportsman partial to the use of the smooth- 

 bore ; indeed, without them there would be no bird-shooting 

 in the Lower Provinces worth notice, ducks and teal only 

 excepted, partridges having become scarce in all but a few 

 localities, and jungle-fowl and pheasants even more so. Good 

 wild-fowl shooting may still be obtained in many places, and 

 golden plover are abundant in certain parts of the country, 

 particularly on the open plains on the banks of the great 

 rivers in Eastern Bengal ; but the last is not made a special 

 object of pursuit, nor does it furnish more than a poor kind 

 of sport for only four or five months in the year. 



Perhaps there is no place in Bengal from which, as a 

 centre, better snipe-shooting can be obtained than in Calcutta. 

 With the inclination and requisite leisure, a man availing 

 himself of the different lines of railway leading out of How- 

 rah and Sealdah, can rely upon good bags through September, 



