CHAPTER XIV. 
SNIPE. 
Abundance in the West and South—Lie well to dogs in fine weather— 
Migrations—Haunts and habits of Wilson’s snipe—Side shots— 
Large bags—Best time to shoot at a snipe. 
Snipe are exceedingly abundant in the West in spring 
and autumn, and in the Southwest in winter, being 
most numerous in the tier of States bordering the Missis- 
sippi and Missouri Rivers, the Gulf Stream, and the Pas 
cific Ocean. It is nothing unusual tor a man to bag from 
fifty to seventy couples a day in some of these regions, 
for they become so tame and fat in places where food is 
abundant and enemies are scarce, that they pay little or 
no attention to a person, and fly so close to him when 
they rise that he may bag the majority. I have heard of 
asportsman who killed sixty without making a miss, and 
of another who grassed ninety-one in a hundred shots. 
This statement may give an idea of their numbers and 
fearlessness when they are not constantly assailed by 
storms of leaden hail. Snipe lie well to dogs in fine weather, 
and are sometimes so lazy that they cannot be flushed 
until they are almost kicked out of their places of con- 
cealment. .They are very wild in blustry weather, and 
flush long before a person is within shooting distance. 
Some persons prefer to shoot without a dog in such 
weather, as they say the chances of getting shots are bet- 
ter. They always beat down wind, as the birds must 
rise against the wind to get on the wing, owing to the 
length and closeness of the under alar feathers. This 
forces them to fly to the right or left of the sportsman, 
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