WILSON’S SNIPE 137 
move plenty fast enough, be sure of that! 
When he flushes close to the gun he is very apt 
to think that a little irregularity on his part 
may add interest to the occasion, and in such 
lines he is very much at home. Some of his 
curves would make a ‘‘ball tosser’s’’ fortune. 
If, however, we wait until the cunning rascal 
has twisted his little twist and finally straight- 
ened out for some more healthy scene we may. 
cut loose with a fair chance of gathering him, 
for he is not ‘‘hard lived’’ and a few pellets 
will stop him. But even this plan will not al- 
ways bring about their destruction, for some 
old veterans of the bog will corkscrew for a 
hundred yards with their heads over their 
shoulders and their keen eyes following your 
every movement, dropping suddenly to earth 
and running a short distance to flush even 
wilder next time. Such citizens are hard to 
deal with; still, we can work down upon them 
with the wind and so have a larger percentage 
of cross shots where it is only a question of 
proper leading, or we may take some day when 
there is a strong breeze blowing and work with 
the air in our faces. We shall thus have a fair 
chance, as they invariably rise against the wind 
