SNIPE SHOOTING 
S NIPE are justly regarded as true denizens of the wild, for like 
the wind they come and go whither they list — the antithesis of 
hand -reared game-birds. And yet no one with an intimate know- 
ledge of life in the country does not know at least one spot where 
a snipe may constantly be found in close proximity to human 
habitations. I am writing in a city of more than 80,000 inhabi- 
tants, and yet within two gun-shots from my window is a small pond daily 
in the winter time frequented by snipe. Being never shot at, they get very 
tame, and it is most interesting to watch all their little ways, with the 
help of a pair of field-glasses. 
A notable instance of tameness took place last summer at Howsham Hall, 
in Yorkshire, the romantic residence of Major and Mrs Raitt, when on 
going into the kitchen garden one day, a brood of young snipe were seen 
waddling with unduly long legs along the gravel walk, having been just 
hatched in the asparagus bed ! As the garden is surrounded by exception- 
ally high walls, and was daily visited by dogs and cats, it seems strange 
that it should have been selected as a nesting-site, and still more wonder- 
ful that the eggs should have been successfully hatched. 
Lucky is the owner who has several snipe haunts on his estate, if he 
is fond of shooting, for he need not lay his gun aside until March, when the 
close time for pheasants and partridges is ushered in on February 1. Yet 
how often an “improving ” landlord or agent will spend money in drain- 
ing some miry spot beloved of snipe, trying to convert it into indifferent 
farming land, and spoiling his sport at the same time ! He is quite 
oblivious, too, that snipe shooting is a valuable asset, which will oft-times 
induce a hesitating tenant to hire a shooting, which would otherwise be 
rejected. There are sure to be plenty of miry places which snipe never 
frequent, and on which the owner can spend his money in draining if 
so inclined. The writer has known a case where an owner borrowed 
money at 5 per cent to drain an extensive and excellent snipe marsh, and 
as the cost came to £80 per acre, the estate was saddled with a debt 
of £4 an acre for interest in perpetuity. To meet this amount the land 
was let at first at £1 per acre ! But this was soon reduced to 15s., and now 
there has been again a further reduction, while the snipe shooting, of 
course, has disappeared. Verb, sap.! 
Snipe breed commonly in these Isles, but migrate from where they 
are bred towards the end of September, and at the beginning of October 
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