SNIPE-SHOOTING. 383 



tions of science,' as one of your correspondents terms agricultural 

 improvements, we are not (except in a few happily situated 

 Alsatias) so sure of a good bag as we were : it may, therefore, be 

 worth the shooter's while to study the habits of these birds. 

 Indeed, every sportsman ought to be something of a ' field 

 naturalist,' as it gives him an additional enjoyment in his 

 favourite sport. 



" The state of the weather is, I believe, the great clue to the 

 haunts of the snipe, their delicate organisation making them pecu- 

 liarly sensitive to atmospheric influences. At the first breath of 

 the autumn frosts, those birds which have been bred upon the 

 mountains leave their summer quarters, and come down to the 

 vast bogs which still abound in some parts of our island. Here 

 they are soon joined by their comrades from Scotland and the 

 North of Europe, who rapidly recover from the effects of their 

 long flight; and from that time forward, until the arrival of 

 spring scatters them again, their life is one constant succession 

 of changes from one part of the country to another, moving 

 towards the sea-shore, the mountains, or inland, according as the 

 season is mild or severe. 



" In very mild wet weather, snipe leave the bogs and return 

 to the mountains, where it is scarcely worth the sportsman's 

 while to follow them. With a good dog, however, fair sport can 

 be had at such times by beating rushy coarse pastures and 

 heathery uplands, where he will be sure to find a considerable 

 number of outlying birds. In this description of ground they 

 lie well to a dog, and are much easier to shoot than in the bogs, 

 where the unsteadiness of footing makes it difficult to take 

 accurate aim. 



" I have always found northerly winds with hail showers the 

 best weather for the marshes. The hail drives the birds down 



