THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 143 



rived from experience, as to the likeliest places 

 to find game, and how it would behave when 

 found, that I relied in challenging any man in 

 the world in field-shooting in the West. 1 counted 

 upon, these things as much as 1 did upon my 

 ability as a marksman. My challenge stood three 

 years, and had publicity through the sporting news- 

 papers. There was plenty of talk about taking 

 it up, but no one ever did so. I hear from time 

 to time about some man who i3 said by some 

 other man to be the best general field-shot in the 

 Western country. This best general field-shot is 

 commonly some man who was never heard of 

 before by me or by anybody else outside of his 

 own small neighborhood. I believe I know as 

 many of the real dead-shots of the West as any 

 man in that section, and yet some one is mentioned 

 as the best of all, of whom 1 never heard before. 

 These foolish opinions and hollow reputations are 

 commonly held and manufactured by those who 

 have taken up the absurd notion that a man who 

 is a good trap-shooter at pigeons cannot be a good 

 field-shot. Now, the reverse of this is commonly 

 Ihe case. The best shots 1 have known at pigeons 

 have been good shots in the field, but many men 

 who do well enough in the field fail at pigeons. 



