238 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



average abilities, hie can follow certain hard and fast 

 rules and meet with success, supposing him to be in a 

 country fairly well stocked with game; but in snipe- 

 shooting, beyond the old rule of always working down- 

 wind, this will not apply. And why? Simply because, 

 of all our game birds, none are so erratic in their habits 

 as the snipe. Every variation in temperature, every shift 

 of the wind, is sure to be followed by a change in their 

 feeding or lying grounds, and they will often shift their 

 quarters even when these apparent causes are absent. 

 One hour they may be very wild, the next, extremely 

 tame; hence the novice, who, perhaps, may have been 

 having good shooting, and is congratulating himself on 

 the accommodating humor of the birds, may the same 

 day, within a short time, be anathematizing them for 

 their wildness or their seemingly causeless veering of 

 quarters. 



One of the golden rules in all game-shooting may be 

 summed up in one word, and that word is, silence. 



There may be other game as acute of hearing as the 

 snipe, but if so, I do not know it; hence it follows, as a 

 matter of course, that the more quietly you and your 

 dogs work the greater will be the chance of success. 



The next thing to be considered is the gun you will 

 use. To give useful advice on this point, it is necessary 

 to know the style of shooting of the one who asks for 

 information. If you are a very quick shot, shooting 

 the moment the bird rises, you will do best with the cyl- 

 inder-bore. If, on the other hand, you are deliberate in 

 your movements, waiting for the bird to get done twist- 

 ing and dodging in his efforts to outflank you, then you 

 need the choke-bore. As the walking in snipe-shooting 

 is apt to be bad, every ounce in weight in the gun tells in 

 a long tramp, and a gun of seven pounds weight, or less, 

 is the thing. As to the gauge, each one has his fancy. 



