JANUARY. 



SNIPE SHOOTING. 



By J. Moray Bkown. 



Snipe shooting has one great advantage ; it can be enjoyed by 

 the poor man as well as the rich. No high rents, no keepers, no 

 army of beaters, no highly preserved ground are necessary for its 

 enjoyment — nor could the veriest curmudgeon of a farmer make 

 any claim for damages inflicted by Snipe. All that is-necessary is 

 wet marshy ground, and the rest must depend on the caprice of 

 one of the most capricious of birds. The Snipe comes and goes 

 as the season or the weather changes, or perhaps at the ruling of 

 some still more mysterious mfluence. He is here to-day, gone to- 

 morrow ; now frequenting ground where you make certain of find- 

 ing him at home ; at other times, and under apparently most 

 favourable circumstances, deserting it. In fact his pursuit has 

 always that concomitant amount of uncertainty which enhances the 

 delights of sport. Then, too. Snipe offer as a rule such difficult 

 and sporting shots that the knocking down of two or three couples 

 will, in the eyes of most men not satiated with bird slaughter 

 be more appreciated than the bagging of many partridges or 

 pheasants. 



The charm, therefore, of this particular form of sport, lies in its 



