MANNER OF SHOOTING SNIPE. 297 



in all three Presidencies. On the other hand, the greatest 

 number of misses in succession scored by some men is pro- 

 digious ; and a lesson of true Christian resignation, and 

 reliance on the goodness of Providence, may be learned by 

 watching one of these contented spirits, as he trudges through 

 the mud, emptying his sack of cartridges into the air, happy 

 and jubilant if a bird fall now and then at long intervals ; 

 smiling in the midst of his almost fruitless toils, and hopeful 

 of better things in the distant future. 



I prefer No. 9 shot early in the season and when the 

 birds lie well, and No. 8 at other times. With such I have 

 seen snipe dropped at seventy to eighty paces, the last very 

 long shot made by me being lately near Khoolna with No. 9 

 shot, fired with three drams of powder out of a 12-bore (not 

 choke) gun by Alexander Henry, the bird falling dead at 

 seventy-six paces immediately after it was hit. 



Some men prefer to let their birds get well away on the 

 wing before firing, and to take them in settled flight, but I 

 have always followed the other course, which is to shoot down 

 the bird as it rises as quickly as possible, and before it zig- 

 zags in its flight after the first upward rush out of the grass 

 or green paddy. The former style is no doubt the prettier, 

 but the latter is the more profitable if a good bag be desired, 

 and a quick eye and hand be not wanting. 



When there is a smart cold breeze blowing under a 

 cloudy and lowering ,sky, the birds will be wild, and will fly 

 low, making the attainment of a good bag hopeless, because 

 not only are they flushed at a distance, but by skimming just 

 over the brown or green tinted ground they cannot be very 

 distinctly seen in the gloomy atmosphere. On the contrary, 

 when the wind softly bends the tops of the blades of grass and 

 green rice, and the sun shines out hotly and brightly from an 

 almost cloudless sky, the birds will lie close, and springing up 

 within twenty or thirty yards from the gun, will fly more 

 heavily than in chilly and gloomy weather. 



I have failed to convince myself that snipe regulate their 

 flight according to the direction of the wind, as is usually 



