THE COMMON SNIPE. 265 



having heard that, when flushed by a dog alone, snipes seldom 

 fly far ; he verified it by his own observation, adding, that " they 

 easily discriminate between the lesser and the greater tyrant, and 

 are well aware of the powerlessness of a dog for injury, unless 

 accompanied by his master." 



Mr. Lloyd, who has shot much in different parts of the southern 

 half (but it only) of Ireland, remarks : — 



" I do not think I ever met with more than fifty or sixty couple [of 

 snipe in the course of a day] . * * * With a good marker, a good 

 dog, a knowledge of the country, and propitious weather, a man ought 

 to kill some twenty couple in a day to his own gun ; under favourable 

 circumstances, that was about my average. On several occasions I 

 have bagged from twenty-five to twenty-eight couple, and in one in- 

 stance thirty-two couple ; and this, be it remembered, independently of 

 other varieties of game. A very small portion of the snipes that at 

 various times I have shot at Ireland were jacks, probably not more 

 than one in twenty." * 



I have been assured that the late Captain Hungerford has shot 

 on one day forty-nine, and on another, forty-nine and a half brace 

 about Clonakilty, county Cork. An officer quartered about twenty 

 years ago in the county of Longford, commonly bagged from 

 thirty to thirty-five brace. A sportsman of my acquaintance has, 

 with a friend, killed forty-four brace in the county of Antrim. 

 Although the extent of cultivation and the populous nature of 

 the country around Belfast render it unfavourable for snipes, 

 the following returns of numbers killed by a relative, shooting at 

 least once a week, within ten miles of the town, may be worth 

 giving. In the seasons from 1835-42, the greatest numbers of 

 these and jack snipes killed by him were seventeen brace twice, 

 seventeen and a half and nineteen brace; during this time so 

 many only as ten and ten and a half brace of the common snipe 

 were obtained five times, eleven brace twice, twelve and twelve 

 and a half brace each once, the remainder being jack snipes. 

 This was the result of only a few hours' shooting, as a drive of 

 some miles to and from the bogs had to be undertaken. 



* ' Sporting llevicw,' October, 1847, p. 259. ' 



