UPLAND SHOOTING. 
209 
SHOOTING. 
UTUMN shooting, 
which is 'par ex¬ 
cellence, the true 
sport of the true 
sportsman, can¬ 
not he said to 
have its begin¬ 
ning on any 
particular day, 
or even in any 
particular month of the season. 
Its commencement is regulated by the return of the Wood¬ 
cock, after its brief August migration ; and, the period of that 
return being uncertain, and dependant on the state of the wea¬ 
ther, and other influences, with which we are not fully ac¬ 
quainted, the sportsman has only to bide his time, and take the 
season as he finds it. 
In truth, the variation of the autumnal season is in this res¬ 
pect very great, as regards both the Woodcock and the Snipe. 
I have shot both of these birds together, in considerable num¬ 
bers, on the same ground, so early as the 12th or 15th of Sep¬ 
tember ; and again, in other seasons, neither the one nor the 
other bird have made their appearance until so late as the mid¬ 
dle of October. 
As a general rule, however, I should say that Woodcock be¬ 
gin to return to the Atlantic States, in ordinary seasons, about 
the middle of September, and the Snipe about the first of Octo- 
