the spring, but remain here during the summer, and breed in the _marshes_ and _fens_, where their nests are often found in the month of June with four and five eggs in each. POINTERS only are made use of in this sport; and it is rather remarkable, that, notwithstanding this species of bird is so diminutive in proportion to the game that a dog is constantly accustomed to, he stands equally staunch to even the _jack_, (the least of the two) as to either PHEASANT, HARE, or PARTRIDGE. Snipes, the moment they are upon wing, fly against the wind, encountering which, they go off in such a _twisting_ and _twirling_ direction, that they are _then_ a very difficult object to _aim_ at; but by waiting with patience till they take their intended line, the shot may be made with a much greater probability of success. They cannot be said to be in season before NOVEMBER, or after FEBRUARY; for killed at any other time of the year, they mostly appear with a branny _scurf_ upon their bodies, as if _diseased_, or in a state of emaciation. These are the different kinds of shooting only which comprize the pleasure of the gentleman sportsman, and in which the better kind of sporting dogs (POINTERS, SPANIELS, and SETTERS) are used. Shooting of _wild-fowl_, _rabbits_, &c. are principally the amusement of those who are not particular in their objects of pursuit; but equally prepared for whatever may come in their way, from a PHEASANT to a _tom-tit_, or from a SOLAN GOOSE to a _dab-chick_. The scientific and systematic rules of shooting in the field are so generally known, and universally comprehended, in respect to the length of the gun, the mode of charging, the distance for firing, and some other trifling minutia, dependent upon contingencies, that a single line must be unnecessary in elucidation; except a salutary hint to the young and inexperienced, never to let others do for them _with the gun_, what they can do for themselves. It should be the particular province of the person who shoots, to charge his own gun, and to be punctually precise in drawing the charge at his _return_: a retrospective survey of the most melancholy and shocking accidents which the last few years have produced, will demonstrate to any humane and reflecting mind, the danger of letting either GUN or PISTOL remain loaded in a dwelling-house, where, by the single inadvertency alone, any individual of the family is perpetually liable to instantaneous destruction.