BAY-SNIPE SHOOTING. 71 



is hardly possible to speak within bounds — more than 

 a hundred having been killed at one shot — but pro- 

 bably a hundred separate shots are occasionally fired 

 by each sportsman in the course of a day, and with 

 the breech-loader even more. There have been times 

 when twenty-five pounds of shot have been expend- 

 ed by one gnn, but those days exist no longer, and 

 it is rare to use more than five pounds where the 

 load does not exceed an ounce and a quarter. 



The uncertainty of the flight is the principal draw- 

 back to bay-snipe shooting, although experience can 

 in a measure overcome the difficulty ; but to the 

 citizen confined to certain days, a selection of time 

 is an impossibility. The height of the season ex- 

 tends from August 15 th to the 25th for the bay- 

 birds proper ; and from August 28th to September 

 8th, for golden plover ; and if a north-easterly storm 

 should occur at this period, it will be followed by an 

 immense flight. 



Dry seasons are never good, and so long as the 

 weather remains warm the birds will tarry in their 

 northern latitudes ; when the meadows are parched 

 for want of rain, they become too hard for the birds 

 to perforate, and the latter, being unable to feed, 

 must migrate elsewhere ; but when they are soft 

 with moisture, the older snipe that have left their 

 progeny at the far north, linger on the feeding- 

 grounds and wait for the latter to arrive. They 

 seem to make it a point to send back portions of 

 their number from time to time to look after the young ; 

 and on such occasions, both the messengers and the 



