THE SNIPE. 233 
the practice of smoking, he himself has made no mention 
of it. Some commentators have brought this forward as a 
proof of the comparative earliness of many of his dramas, 
but smoking was in general use long before Shakespeare 
left London, and he drew his manners almost entirely from 
his own age, making mention of masks, false hair, poman¬ 
ders, and fardingales, all of which were introduced about 
the same time. But apropos of “the woodcock’s head,” 
we are wandering away from Shakespeare’s birds. 
The Snipe (Scolopax gallinago) has been less frequently 
noticed by him than the woodcock. Indeed we have been 
unable to find more than one passage in which it is 
mentioned. 
Iago, alluding to Roderigo, says :— 
“ For I mine own gain’d knowledge should profane, 
If I would time expend with such a snipe, 
But for my sport and profit.” 
Othello , Act i. Sc. 3. 
The speaker being evidently of opinion that a snipe was 
too insignificant a bird to the sportsman to warrant his 
taking much trouble to kill it, except for mere sport. 
That there was a good deal more “sport” than “ profit ” 
is extremely likely; for it is difficult to believe that the 
sportsmen of Shakespeare’s day, with guns such as we 
have described, fired with either fuze or flint, could have 
successfully stopped the erratic flight of a snipe. That 
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