THE COMMOI'J SNIPE. 
265 
having heard that_, when flushed by a dog alone, snipes seldom 
fly far ; he verifled it by his own observation, adding, that they 
easily discriminate between the lesser and the greater tyrant, and 
are well aware of the powerlessness of a dog for injury, unless 
accompanied by his master.'’^ 
Mr. Lloyd, who has shot much in different parts of the southern 
half (but it only) of Ireland, remarks : — 
“ I do not think I ever met with more than fifty or sixty couple [of * 
snipe in the course of a day]. * * * With a good marker, a good 
dog, a knowledge of the country, and propitious weather, a man ought 
to kill some twenty couple in a day to his own gun ; under favourable 
circumstances, that was about my average. On several occasions I 
have bagged from twenty-five to twenty-eight couple, and in one in- 
stance thirty-two couple ; and this, be it remembered, independently of 
other varieties of game. A very small portion of the snipes that at 
various times I have shot at Ireland were jacks, probably not more 
than one in twenty.” * 
I have been assured that the late Captain Hungerford has shot 
on one day forty-nine, and on another, forty-nine and a half brace 
about Clonakilty, county Cork. An offlcer quartered about tw^enty 
years ago in the county of Longford, commonly bagged from 
thirty to thirty-five brace. A sportsman of my acquaintance has, 
with a friend, killed forty-four brace in the county of Antrim. 
Although the extent of cultivation and the populous nature of 
the country around Belfast render it unfavourable for snipes, 
the following returns of numbers killed by a relative, shooting at 
least once a week, within ten miles of the town, may be worth 
giving. In the seasons from 1835-12, the greatest numbers of 
these and jack snipes killed by him were seventeen brace twice, 
seventeen and a half and nineteen brace ; during this time so 
many only as ten and ten and a half brace of the common snipe 
were obtained five times, eleven brace twice, twelve and twelve 
and a half brace each once, the remainder being jack snipes. 
This was the result of only a few hours^ shooting, as a drive of 
some miles to and from the bogs had to be undertaken. * 
* ‘ Sporting Review,’ October, 1847, p. 259. 
