252 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
The best day for snipe-shooting, spring or fall, in 
spite of all that English authorities say—who, writing 
what is true for one country and climate err not, though 
they are frequently blamed for error, because readers 
apply their sayings to another—is not a dark, windy, driz- 
zling day. A dark day is never favorable for any shooting 
on the upland, least of all for the shooting of snipe, which 
are so exactly similar in the coloring of their streaked 
plumage to the withered grass and sedges among which 
they live, and over which they fly in such days unusually 
low and near the ground—that they can hardly be distin- 
guished except by the glimpses of their white bellies, 
which they show when they twist. 
Drizzly days are never good for any shooting, unless it 
is some kind of wild-fowl shooting; for no ground bird— 
this rule is invariable and without exception—will squat 
(without doing which, it never ean lie well to the dog), 
unless the ground or herbage is dry and warm to its 
breast. 
Windy weather, provided that the wind is from the 
west or south, and not too high, is advantageous for this 
sport, for reasons to be given hereafter. 
A mild, sunshiny, soft,and even hot day, with a gentle 
southerly wind is, then, of all days, the day for the snipe 
bogs; and I have invariably found that the hotter the 
day, if it be humid, with a good deal of gentle air, the 
closer lie the birds. I have seen the time when they 
could hardly be kicked up under the dog’s nose; nor is 
this all; for every old sportsman knows that in such 
weather the flight of the birds themselves is wholly altered, 
