kind are in existence it not at all infrequently happens that you must either kill your snipe at twenty yards or twenty-five yards or lose the shot altogether; and at such a range, while a cylinder will not materially damage the bird, a full choke would cut it about badly. But this is the least part of the argument against the use for snipe shooting of a gun which throws a close pattern from both barrels.

Let us now imagine ourselves to be walking over quite open country. If the snipe be inclined to lie, we are much more likely than not to find them lying very well indeed; if they be not inclined to lie, we are much more likely than not to find them lying very badly indeed. First we will suppose them to be lying well. We flush a few single birds at twenty yards or so, and then a couple rise simultaneously near at hand. As we are shooting with the gun I have recommended, we kill the first bird at a range of twenty-five yards or less and then have ample time to deal comfortably with the second bird at a range of from thirty yards to forty yards. The snipe is not a loiterer on the wing: it is a rare thing, according to my own experience, to see a right and left of snipe killed, the birds having risen together and flown in the same direction, with a distance of less than seven yards between the ranges at which the shot reaches

F

them. Moderately steady shooting brings the distance up to about ten yards, taking the average of a number of shots. Pretty frequently, so uncertain is the snipe's flight, the distance is as much as fifteen yards. If, on the other hand, we are using a gun highly choked in both barrels, and these two snipe rise near at hand, we hesitate to fire at the first bird at a less range than thirty yards or a little over, and then, with all the uncertainties of the flight of the bird and the speed at which it travels, we stand an excellent chance of failing to put in the second shot till bird number two has passed beyond certain killing range. The one gun allows us yards more in which to kill our two birds than the other-unless we cut the first bird to pieces with the right barrel of the choked gun-and gives us a much better chance of killing them. A snipe, however near to us it risesthe nearer it rises, the more, as a general rule, will it twist is rarely too near to shoot with a cylinder barrel by the time one has decided upon a certain moment as the psychological moment for pulling the trigger; a snipe is always too near to fire at with a full choke till it has reached a range of thirty yards. When snipe are lying well, steady shooting allows one to put the charge on the large majority of the birds at a range of thirty yards; and at that range the cylinder

barrel, granted that its shooting is up to the mark and the right size of shot is used, will make certain of a snipe if held straight..

Now let us imagine ourselves to be walking over the same ground when the birds are not lying wellas I have already said, when snipe are not lying very well they are much more likely than not to be lying very badly indeed. In this case, as they are lying badly, nearly all of them rise well out of range. The occasional shot we are able to take is scarcely ever at a less distance than forty yards, and it is here that the gun having two choked barrels claims superiority; for with it we can occasionally kill a right and left, or kill with the second barrel a bird that has escaped the first charge-the closest shooting choked barrel ever bored is far from certain of stopping a snipe at forty yards.

But this must be borne in mind: When the gun with the cylinder right is the more desirable gun, that is when we find the snipe lying well, we have probably ten, perhaps twenty, times as many shots as we have when the gun with the choked right would be the more desirable gun, that is when the birds are lying badly. Thus we may say roughly that, taking one day with another, in something like nine out of ten of our total of

shots we are better off with gun number one in our hands when snipe rise before us than we should be with gun number two.

It is worth while giving a summary of the foregoing.

1. The larger the killing circle, the more satisfactorily does a gun act on snipe. Therefore, a 12-bore is a better gun for snipe shooting than a gun of any smaller gauge.

2. A gun having the right barrel a cylinder and the left barrel a full choke is the best gun to use for snipe shooting, because (a) the cylinder barrel enables one to kill birds at ranges at which they would be badly damaged if shot with a choked barrel, while at the same time it is effective up to a range at which most snipe may be killed when the birds are lying; (b) its large killing circle means the highest possible percentage of kills at moderate ranges; (c) when the birds rise together, the cylinder barrel, by allowing the first bird to be killed at short range, gives the gunner comfortable time to put in his shot from the left barrel before the second bird passes beyond certain killing range.

3. A gun choked in both barrels is not desirable for snipe shooting because (a) it does not allow a

bird to be killed satisfactorily at short range; (b) at any range up to that range at which a cylinder barrel is effective, the choke barrel will, on account of its smaller killing circle, yield a smaller percentage of kills than the cylinder barrel; (c) when the snipe rise simultaneously, the frequent necessity of giving the first bird law materially diminishes one's chance of killing the second bird.

4. When snipe are lying badly the gun choked in both barrels is more serviceable than the gun which has the right barrel a cylinder. This advantage, however, weighs very lightly against the disadvantages already stated. When the gun with the cylinder right is the more desirable gun, that is when we find the snipe lying well, we have probably ten, perhaps twenty, times as many shots as we have when the gun with the choked right would be the more desirable gun, that is when the birds are lying badly. Thus we may say roughly that, taking one day with another, in something like nine out of ten of our total of shots we are better off with gun number one in our hands when snipe rise before us than we should be with gun number two.'

For three months at a stretch I shot snipe regularly with a gun full-choked in both barrels, a sufficient test to warrant the forming of strong