The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-20

ably more ground To Offset his slightly
slower method Of getting beyond harm 8
reach he fi,shes much further away than the
! quail. nor does he buzz directly away from
the gunner in straight line 80 that all the
gunner has to 40 ~ - 10 Ii't MS gun h'sn
The snipe is broad winged, and his pinions
are sharp. As he goes he alternately raises
and depresses first one wing and then the
other. This results In swinging him from
side to side while he Ia darting forward,
making a sort OF corkscrew flight that IL
bothersome in the extreme.
The width Of the snipe's swings u about
four feet so it will not do for the man simply
to aim at the space il covers or about the
centre OF it and let drive The snipe is more
than apt to be on the opposite side OF his
air path when the shot goes by,
The gunner must in fact follow the bird
from side to side with the muzzle; be must
snipe to one side Of the right or left barrel.
whichever he intends to fire. II he does
this and the bird ia not more than thirty-f1ve
yards away, a kill will generally follow: II
Is failure to follow the swings and lead the
bird a trifle that most shooters have cause
to regret.
The straightaway fight with it's zigzags
is, however, by no means the limit OF the
snipe's aerial acrobatics. Frequently he
will 60 nearly straight up, spiralling like
pintail duck. only the spirals are much
wider. Again he will take the wind under
dart to right or left, going In a wide, swift
curve, with the zigzags thrown IN for good
measure.
Perhaps tho hardest fight is his common
est. This consists In rising just far enough
to get the air under him. say six inches above
the grass clump, then a swift wheel and
flight slightly to left or right Of a straight
liDo and pouor rSSipO nv mora than inst
enough to clear the gross.
SO living, the brown Of the birds back Ia
blended with the brown OF the grass clumps.
1t is hard to see and follow with the eye
even when the eve Is not glancing over
brown barrels. snipe, grass and gun with
apt TO become mixed in one inextricab!e
brown and the shot may pass five yards
wide Of the target.
It Is difficult TO understand why Nature
should have been at such pains to give the
jack snipe so fine protective coat, for the
cover which he frequents would have been
enough to preserve him even had he been
differently colored. He has back feathers
which are as we'll calculated to merge with
old grass or earth as the quail's and while
his breast Is speckled and more conspicuous
it is never exposed except by some crazy
individual that perches on little hill in the
marsh or on a bare clump and 80 stands
This does not happen often. BY his habit
Of flying at night and feeding closely in
the day time, by the well covered places
he frequents, BY his feather coloration. his
instinct to squat" like the quail and his
speed and eccentricity of flight the jack
snipe Is the best protected Of all our game
birds.
The man who hunts the jack snipe must
depend wholly upon himself. for no dog
has ever been found OF any soecial valne,
The bird Is game which Ia to say his
scent appeals to the pointer, setter or
spaniel, just az does the scent Of the
quail. partridge or woodcock. and the
will find snipe right along, coming 60 a
stand Immediately. but that does no good.
man gets there and the chances are that
he will jump one or two birds In going. -,
The spaniel Of the cocker variety will
find the snipe also and give tongue nerrily,
but that only warns the sripe to be NOV
shooter is a steady old retriever Of almost
any breed that has been well taught to
stay at heel and to mark dead birds when
they 20 down. This dog will prove OF
great assistance In bringing dead birds
to bag. as well as In running down and
catching winged birds,
Most men. even those OF considerable
experience, are inclined to overload in
cunning for snipe. as indeed they over;
load for all sorts OF. shooting. They will
chock up a l2-gauge with az drains OF
smokeless powder, a lot OF wads as stiff
as steel and ~ ounces OF chilled No. shot.
and they get more kicks than birds. There
are not many l2-gaugee that will burn every
grain OF az drains OF powder, as any man
may test for himself by shooting gun
over snow.
The snipe needs no such load. and any
field shot, no matter what his peculiarities,
will get better results by tightening his
kind should be three drains OF powder,
two pink-edged wads and an ounce. OF
shot No. los are big enough for Jack
snipe In the fall on any day when they are
not rising at unshootable distances. In
the spring when the birds are tougher and
the coats Of feathers are heavier No. SIS
are better.
The gunner must remember that the
jack snipe, although he makes no thunder
GUS buzzing or roaring like the grouse and
quail, is yet going very fast, and crossing
bird at thirty yards must be well led with
even the quickest OF powders. II it Ia
atraightaway bird it musthc led by an
inch or two in each Of it's swings.
Therlate Maurice Thompson used to con-
tend that the only way in which to shoot
jack snipe properly was to wait until the
bird had travelled from twenty TO thirty
yards. He had theory that when. the
sn ipe had gone 80 far he steadied and be-
came less irritetingly wabbly.
There are two troubles with this theory:
One is that many jack snipe get up so far
away that IL man waits until they have
got twenty yards further he cannot reach
them the other is that they do not steady
Their swings are just as wide and fast
when they have gone hundred yards as
when they have gone ten feet
The way in which to shoot jack snpe
is to hold the muzzle as we'll on them as
possible, making proper allowance for the
speed and distance OF crossing birds, and
let drive II the shooter misses he may
find consolation in the thought that plenty
of other men have done the same.
If he misses five straight he need not be
d iscouraged or ashamed; II he misses ten
straight he will still have within his ac-
quaintance man or two who have done
Ms badly on occasion: if he misses twenty
five straight he had better go home for
that day, but he can still say to himself
on the way: "This has all happened be-
fore"