TWENTY YEARS' SNIPE-SHOOTING 307 



flower in spring, and other water weeds and grasses 

 affording excellent cover for the birds. Adjacent 

 to these low marshes, which he called the lower 

 grounds, about 15 in. to 30 in. above their level, 

 sloping down to them, with a gradual and almost 

 imperceptible descent, was a low undulating prairie, 

 which he called the upper grounds, in the de- 

 pressions of which also grew the " blue iris " and 

 various water grasses. The birds were generally 

 found on the lower grounds in dry weather, or 

 when there had not been rain enough to submerge 

 them ; but in wet weather, when these lower 

 marshes were too much flooded, they resorted to 

 the upper grounds. 



The walking, as snipe-shooting goes, was un- 

 commonly good, so that one could get over the 

 ground at a good pace, which in a measure accounts 

 for the large bags that were made, although, of 

 course, the good shooting must be taken into 

 account. 



When snipe were abundant Mr Pringle kept 

 his dog — either setter or pointer — at heel, and only 

 used him to " seek dead," not to retrieve ; for a 

 dog sent out to retrieve would have put up many 

 birds which would have gone off, some of them 

 unshot at. So that by walking to the dead birds 

 and picking them up himself he got many more 

 shots. This, of course, gave more walking, but 

 more shooting. He had an old negro slave who 

 was a wonderful marker, and it was his business 

 when birds were rising fast and the shooting was 

 rapid, to mark down and keep count of the dead 



