SNIPE SHOOTING 
The snipe is notorious as an uncertain bird, and snipe 
shooting as a sport that can never be depended on. 
In old times one used to walk mile after mile in the 
hope that some of the birds might be started from some 
favorite bit of feeding ground, but too often only dis- 
appointment and weary leg muscles rewarded the en- 
thusiastic tramper. On the other hand, snipe were 
occasionally found in great abundance, and could 
hardly be driven away. Recollections of occurrences of 
both kinds are laid away in the memories of all of 
the older gunners, 
Near Vincennes, Ind., many years ago, there was a 
famous feeding ground for snipe to which, during mi- 
gration, the birds resorted in great numbers. Thither 
I went one season with a companion to whom the 
grounds were well known, and there I saw more snipe 
than at that time I supposed existed. We were driven 
to the edge of the marsh, and there, as the team drew 
up and the wagon cramped to let us jump out, a dozen 
snipe rose almost under the horses’ hoofs, flew fifteen 
or twenty yards and alighted. 
Disregarding the advice of my friend, I had brought 
a dog with me, the best on partridges that I had ever 
seen, but he proved absolutely useless here. The birds 
319 
