328 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
necessary in such shooting. The sportsman walks 
along till the birds are walked up. So rapidly will 
he sometimes flush them that at every step it is fire 
and load, and fire and load again. At such times the 
gun becomes too hot to hold, and the shooter must 
perforce stop till it is cool enough to handle. 
Enormous bags of snipe have been made, particu- 
larly in Louisiana and Texas, where the greater part 
of the flight of North America congregates for a few 
weeks in the period of snipe migration. One of the 
greatest, and I believe that it is referred to now as 
the greatest bag, was made many years ago by Mr. 
Pringle, a wealthy sugar planter, of Louisiana, who 
had great fame as a sportsman of rare skill. He bagged 
400 and some odd snipe in one day. This is a large 
bag, indeed. It is but one of thousands of large bags 
in that section, so common as to excite no special 
comment. 
I have told of these matters to shooters in the North 
whose success was measured by a dozen snipe, more 
or less, as the result of a day’s shooting. Such large 
bags being outside of their personal experience, they 
have been pleased to consider it an idle tale. They 
seemed to think that their narrow experience in shoot- 
ing a few birds over a few acres of ground each year 
was the measure of the world over. 
In regard to the big bag made by Mr. Pringle, it 
may be added, by way of explanation, that he had ne- 
groes to assist him, some to carry the spare guns, oth- 
ers to carry the ammunition and to retrieve the dead 
