80 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



brae a hundred yards away, and, following, 

 we come right upon them. Selecting our birds 

 on the outskirts of the flight, we have our 

 reward by bagging three, each of us emptying 

 both barrels. 



Having dealt out this swift retribution, we turn 

 to the Snipe. We find these, as we expected, 

 in a marshy meadow at the bottom of the wood. 

 Five are killed with seven shots, many others 

 getting up out of reach, and calling " Scape ! 

 scape ! " as they fly off. It was remarked that 

 the brace that got clear away were fired at 

 just as they rose. The surest method in snipe- 

 shooting is to exercise patience, and pull just 

 when the bird has finished zigzagging. The 

 finger must rest lightly on the trigger, how- 

 ever, and not a second be lost, as by this 

 time the bird is just passing out of range. It 

 is marvellous how much thought can be exer- 

 cised in a moment whilst shooting ! Even as 

 the eye glances along the barrels, and the finger 

 presses close with every instinct to pull, some 

 slight circumstance intervenes, entailing a train 

 of thought and its deductions, which ends in 

 letting the game go. 



From the rushy marsh a Woodcock is bagged, 



