FOREST AND STREAM. 
| GAME BAG AND GUN 

[APRIL 7, 1906. 

Shooting Snipe in Central Italy. 
Not long ago I heard a man who had been 
wintering in Rome remark that the one thing 
he missed in the Italian capital was shooting. 
“All they have over there,” he said, “is spar- 
rows and larks.”’ This belief seems to be shared 
by many, and a few contradictory lines may be 
both enlightening and useful. 
Rome is really a veritable paradise for the 
sportsman. Game is found a-plenty, up to 
within a few miles of the city, and both climate 
and scenery are delightful. The surrounding 
country is rich in marshland. To the north is 
the famous Maremma,. immortalized by Ouida; 
to the west are the Fiumicino and Ostia bogs, 
and to the south are the great Pontine marshes, 
extending uninterruptedly from Cisterna to 
Terracina. ; 
All this territory seems to be inexhaustibly 
supplied with game, and despite the fact that it 
is daily shot over by numerous sportsmen, the 
supply does not visibly decrease. At the height 
of the season large and assorted bags are the 
rule, while at all times sufficient game can be 
counted upon to provide a good day’s sport. 
This will sound odd to those who know that all 
the marsh fauna is migratory, and that none of 
the birds are indigenous to the country. The 
circumstance, however, is easily explained by 
the climatic conditions prevailing. Severe frosts 
are hardly known in the locality, so that ducks 
always find open water, and the long-billed 
tribes are ever able to discover some place 
where the ground is soft enough for them to 
dig out their food. 
The marshes are great expanses of lowlands, 
running along the Mediterranean coast, within 
short distance of the shore. Sparsely popu- 
lated, cultivated only in small portions, and 
mostly covered with brackish, muddy water that 
varies in depth from an inch or two to seven 
or eight feet, they have a character all of their 

Beccaccino (Scolopax gallinago). 
own. The nature and condition of the soil 
change with the depth of water. Where there is 
but little, are grassy green meadows, with soft 
soil and comparatively good walking. Where 
the water is about a foot deep the mud is plenti- 
ful and full of treacherous holes; hard, prickly 
reeds (giunchi) grow in clusters all over it, and 
a few stunted tamarisks dot it here and there. 
Im the deeper places are tall canes, rising at 
times to a height of ten and even fifteen feet, 
though, as a rule, they are from two to four 
feet only above the level of the water. Through- 
cut the entire territory are bits of dense, wild 
woods, thick in underbrush and moist under- 
foot, which are quite impracticable, and which, 
therefore, afford safe refuge to the hunted. 
In attempting to describe the condition of 
the soil, I am taking it at high water, during an 
average season. An unusual spell of wet weather 
will submerge the entire locality, and during 
the summer most of the territory dries up to a 
crisp. It is during these excessive droughts that 
the cattle, seeking to rid themselves of the 
mosquitoes and flies which infest the region, 

BUFFALO APPROACHING THE CAMERA, 
water is leit, 
a wallow of 
locate those places where a little 
and then proceed to work out 
sufficient depth to enable them to submerge 
their entire body. These wallows, after the rain 
has inundated their surroundings, become deadly 
traps, which have been fatal to many an unwary 
sportsman. 
Birds of many species are shot in the Roman 
marshes, but the best sport is undoubtedly af- 
forded by three varieties of the snipe family, 
which are not only the most plentiful, but found 
the season out, from August until April. They 
are the solitary (Scolopax major), the English 
(Scolopax gallmago), and the jack (Scolopar 
ga/linula), called respectively in Roman pizgzar- 
done, pizsarda and aricola. Wocdccck also 
abound in November and December; ducks of 
every kind can be found from December to 
March; geese linger for a few days in January; 
quail are shot at all times; and hares, roebuck, 
deer and wild boar are always among the pos- 
sibilities of a day afield. 
Among the snipe, the English ranks first. A 
few nest in the inaccessible parts of the marsh, 
and their broods are full grown in August, when 
the season opens. The fields are artificially irri- 
gated around the farmhouses at this time, and 
the cattle turned into them, so that in a few days 
the soil is trampled into ideal feeding ground 
and the grass grows to be a foot high. Finding 
shelter and food, the birds flock to the unusually 
fine pasture, and will lie to a dog as close as will 
a quail. Those lucky enough to first discover 
these irrigated fields, have splendid shooting. 
In September the regular southbound flight 
begins, but the bulk of the passing birds do not 
strike the locality until November. Then they 
often appear by the thousand, and just before a 
storm, when they collect to resume their flight, 
it is a wonderful sight to see a whisp, at one 
moment blackening the air like a swarm of 
insects, and disappearing completely the next, 
as they rise against the sky or plunge along the 
marsh that is already darkened by the coming 
of night. 
During a normal season, when the soil is in 
good shape, many of the birds winter in the 
locality, and good sport is then assured, to the 
_Pontines. 
season's end. The flight north begins about the 
middle of February, and lasts until April. 
Those who have ever had doubts about the 
snipe’s being a full-fledged game bird would do 
weil to see it shot in the Maremma or in the 
In Rome almost every man is a 
devotee of the gun, and no keener or better 
sportsmen can be found. The Roman is gener- 
ally a good shot, he knows his country inch by 
inch, and the habits of birds are an open book 
to him. Add that he can teach a dog as well as 
any professional trainer, and you have him 
complete. The latter quality seems to be uni- 
versal. No Roman sportsman is without a dog, 
and of course the poor have to be content with 
any old mongrel they can lay hands on. Yet to 
see those ugly brutes afield is a revelation; they 
point, they retrieve, and if their scent is not 
quite up to standard, they make up for it in 
form and intelligence. 
For snipe shooting it is my firm belief that the 
best dog in existence is the Italian pointer, 
which the natives call “bracco.” After having 
shot snipe in most countries, over nearly every 
breed, [ have had to admit that never have I 
seen such sterling performances as in the Pon- 
tines over the north Italian bracchi. 
The bracco resembles the English pointer in 
general appearance, though he is heavier in 
every way; the head is more square at the fore- 
head; the ears are larger and set lower, and the 
jaw is deeper and more mouthy. There are two 
types, the heavy, weighing from 45 to 55 pounds, 
and the tight, around forty. 
On snipe, pointers and setters do not com- 
pare favorably with the bracco; they are noisy, 
anxious and very apt to get excited if the birds 
are at all wild. The bracco is serious, attentive, 
obedient, and seems to understand the value 
of silence. Bred for marsh hunting, and trained 
to it for generations, he is the beau ideal of 
perfect form. He steps along softly, with a 
light, careful tread, hardly making a sound; and 
every few yards he halts, and with nose high to 

PIZZARDONE, SOLITARY SNIPE (Gallinago major). 
the breeze, makes a circular inspection of the 
air. Should a stray breath bring to him the 
pungent scent of his quarry, he stiffens into a 
point with hardly a move, just a slight crouch 
of the body and a stretching out of the neck. 
And then, at a sign from his master, he starts on 
one of those beautiful stalks that no other breed 
can imitate—a slow, cautious step forward, a 
wag of the tail, and another point; and the 
operation repeated until the bird is flushed. I 
have seen many a bracco point snipe 70, 80 and 
even 100 yards away, and always with the same 
precise method. 
