HE English or Wilson Snipe (Gallinago Wilsoni), whose only fault as a game bird is his comparatively small size, enjoys, nevertheless, many claims to distinction in the eyes of the true sportsman. I will enumerate some of them in this short paper.

To begin with, he has the undoubted honour of being the most widely distributed game bird on the face of the earth. He is found all over Europe, in Asia, Africa, North and South America, and on the great island continent of Australia, wherevermarshy land is to be found; and is true to himself, and is the same wily old game bird everywhere, with the same zig-zag flight and eccentric

This wide distribution enables the snipe to give pleasure to "all sorts and conditions of men."

He is the "stand-by" of the British subaltern in India and Burmah. Two officers of high rank were nearly captured in the last Afghan war by the enemy while shooting this very bird on the marshy shores of the Cabool River, in Afghanistan. On the great plains of Australia, the herdsmen know well his harsh scâpe-scape, as he rises in wisps before them as their horses splash over the long marshy levels. In the States, and especially in Canada he is distributed in fair-sometimes in great-numbers, all over the vast continent and his pursuit, in my opinion, is one of the most manly and fascinating of field sports.

The snipe, too, on his own merits, will outlast, as a wild game bird, every other species in America.

His

feeding and breeding grounds in the vast marsh lands about our great lakes and rivers will be untouched for many a generation to come.

I am glad to think that this is so, for to my mind there is a peculiar charm and fascination about the pursuit of this agile long bill that renders it the most attractive of sports.

The wide prospects-the vast, free, open spaces on the great marsh lands where this bird is mostly found, the interesting and abundant life you encounter in these watery solitudes, and, above all, the opportunities you have of making what all sportsmen love-" a mixed bag"-all these things add to the strange charm of snipe shooting.

You may get on his feeding grounds, besides the snipe himself, various sorts of wild duck and teal, many kinds of plover, rail, and other game birds of the marshes.

You will see the great fish-hawk or osprey poised motionless in the air, the swift marsh-harrier flying low and close over the rushes, beating for his prey like a pointer dog. You may watch the mink playing in some lonely pool, or note the slow tranquil swim of the muskrat-all the wild reduntant life of the great swamp will appear before you; and if you are a bit of a naturalist, as most sportsmen are, will both charm and interest you as only nature can. Like most other game birds, the Wilson snipe has his peculiarities, some of which, and how to take advantage of them, I will note down here, in hopes that the sporting reader may get a hint or two by perusing the next few paragraphs, though the subject must necessarily be briefly and crudely dealt with.

To begin: The snipe always rises against the wind, as do all water fowl that I know of. So, if you have marked down a wisp of snipe when a strong

wind is blowing, try to approach them with the wind on your back. Then you will get some easy cross-shots. Approach them any other way, and you will either get hard straight-away shots at very long range, or more probably get no shots at all, but find that the game has "gone away wild." Do the very reverse of what you would do when still-hunting deer, viz., go down wind to your game instead of up wind.

The flight of the Wilson snipe has given rise to diametrically opposite opinions among experienced sportsmen; one school maintaining that he is one of the hardest of birds to kill on the wing, the other that he is one of the very easiest. Strange to say, "they both are right, and both are wrong. When the snipe first arrives on his feeding grounds after his annual migration, he is thin and wild; rising swiftly and strongly with his familiar cry of “scapescape"-and making those three zigzag twists or whirls which cause the sportsman to expend many a fruitless cartridge and many an injurious expression addressed to his poor innocent dog.

But at the end of the season, when the snipe has become fat and lazy with good living, he omits these misleading twists altogether, and goes off as straight as a crow, and not much faster, becoming one of the easiest of game birds to kill, instead of being the difficult proposition that he was when he first arrived.

The snipe on the whole presents the same queer mixture of intelligence and imbecility which we observe in his near relation, the American Woodcock (Philohela Minor). He has one especially idiotic trick which many sportsmen besides myself must have noticed. This habit of his has its origin in his rooted dislike to leaving a good feeding ground when he has once settled down to it.

I have often fired at and missed (open confession, sometimes, is good for the soul) a Wilson snipe, stood and watched him till he became a mere speck against the grey sky; seen him

turn and seek various points of the horizon successively as if he was uncertain what distant part of North America to emigrate to, and at last beheld him approach nearer and nearer, till with the swift perpendicular descent peculiar to this bird, he has dropped within fifty yards of the place where he was first flushed. Hundreds of shooters besides myself must have observed this very silly, but very convenient, trait of the snipe.

The dog par excellence for snipe shooting is a well-broken retriever, or still better, Irish water spaniel, which has been trained to hunt very close to the gun, and, above all, to retrieve well. The best broken pointers and setters are to my mind, out of place in a marsh. I have a little Irish spaniel, now alas! growing old, who is worth a dozen good setters or pointers for this one kind of shooting.

Almost the last time I was out with setters after snipe, the occasion was rendered memorable by my companion (a major in a Highland regiment), through some "uncanny" chance, bestowing a liberal share of a charge of No. 10 on his valuable Gordon setter just as it was making its first pointa queer way of encouraging merit. He was very sorry-so was the dogwho, however, was, owing to its thick coat, very little hurt, and, strange to say, not even rendered "gun-shy."

There remains one very good thing to be insisted upon as regards the Wilson snipe which may be fittingly kept for the conclusion of this short paper, which is, that he will outlast as a wild game bird every other species in North America.

Of course, the quail, the English pheasant, pheasant, and other upland game birds, may survive in a semi-domesticated state, as they do now in England, for an indefinite period.

The virtual extinction of game birds that cannot from their habits be preserved in this state, such as the wild turkey, the woodcock, and perhaps the prairie hen, or pinnated grouse, will probably be witnessed by the next, if not by this generation. But with

the snipe it is quite another matter, and for these reasons: his range is vast, that of the others comparatively restricted. His breeding places are inaccessible, theirs are not; and his breeding grounds are about the last places that will be cleared and cultivated. At any rate he holds his own far better than any other wild game bird.

Frederick Tolfrey, A. D.C. to Sir John Sherbroke, an early Governor of the Canadas, in his now forgotten book

"The Sportsman in Canada," written long years before the writer of this paper was born, speaks of the number of snipe in Lower Canada (Quebec) as "being dans toute la force du termemarvellous."

If he lived to-day he might say the same thing. So that for many a generation to come, this long billed "lover of the wind and open sky" may be trusted to afford a fascinating and healthy amusement to the sportsman.

HA

AVING referred at greater length than I at first designed to the facts surrounding the "insane" C. P. R. bargains (I think, however, they are sufficiently startling and instructive to warrant the space occupied), I shall briefly refer to two or three other railway enterprises for the purpose of showing that government blunders in relation to the railway question were not confined to the C. P. R. I am, of course, quoting "bargains" of more recent date; I am informed on excellent authority that enormities have been perpetrated in connection with railway deals extending over a period further back than it is deemed wise to go in this review.

One of the most striking instances of jobbery and manipulation in connection with any railway enterprise in Canada is that of the old Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay Railway. A member of Parliament obtained a charter to build a road from Winnipeg to Hudson's Bay, a distance of 700 miles, through a territory largely forbidding and unproductive, and involving an expenditure of fourteen or fifteen millions. The Dominion Parliament voted the customary land grant of 6,400

acres per mile within the limits of Manitoba and $12,800 for that portion of the line through the Territories. There was a cash postal subsidy of $80,000 and bonding powers for $25,ooo a mile. The history of this charter is a stain on Canadian politics, and is one of the most striking commentaries upon the railway policy of the country. It was used as a political bludgeon for nearly two decades in Manitoba, and even yet it is occasionally made to do duty to frighten some timorous politician. Despite the prodigality of the subsidies the promoter failed to "float" his scheme for reasons which need not be explained here. A general election was pending in Manitoba, and the odium of C. P. R. monopoly having created a popular demand for competition, the government of Mr. Norquay sought to catch the popular breeze by guaranteeing the company's bonds for $6,400 a mile for forty miles, taking as security the company's land grant. On the strength of this arrangement 'the rails were purchased in England for the forty miles, the gradient was completed and the rails laid. The sequel to the story is highly discreditable; the English company which forwarded the rails

was defrauded out of the purchase money; the Province of Manitoba, which has become responsible for $256,000 and interest, was jockeyed out of its security, as the Dominion Government refused to hand over the land grant on the plea that the road was never properly completed. While disputations and recriminations were being carried on, the railway, all uncared for, fell into decay, the grade largely subsided, the ties and bridge timber were stolen and to-day only two streaks of rust, beginning at nowhere and ending at the same indefinite locality, constitute the original design of the great Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay Railway.

Let me briefly cite from Mr. Willison's pamphlet two other cases: "The history of the Qu'Appelle, Long Lake and Saskatchewan Railway is faithful to the details of American railway methods. More than $3,500,000 was received from the sale of bonds. The road cost for construction and commissions and disbursements in connection with the sale of bonds probably $2,500,000. Rolling stock and terminals were supplied by the Canadian Pacific. The road received also a land grant of 1,400,000 acres and a cash subsidy of $80,000 a year. It was leased for six years to the Canadian Pacific without rental and the lease has just been renewed. But the original promoters got a million or two out of the speculation."

To summarize Mr. Willison's statement we find that out of public grants, subsidies, etc., the promoters obtained $6,500,000 for building a road costing $2,500,000.

"The Calgary and Edmonton Railway Company was incorporated in 1890. The length of the road as projected is 340 miles, of which 295 miles have been constructed. The promoters received the usual land grant of 6,400 acres per mile, and annual mail subsidy of $80,000.

The subsidy is to be paid direct to the London agents as trustees for the bondholders. The bonding powers given to the company were to the amount of $25,000 per mile. Al

most immediately the road passed under the operation of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Many of the promoters and contractors were closely identified with that company. At the session of Parliament of 1891, the Canadian Pacific obtained permission to issue its own 4 per cent. consolidated debenture stock to the amount of $20,000 of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway. This was stated to be for the purpose of 'satisfying or acquiring obligations entered into in respect of the acquisition, construction, completion or equipment of the Calgary Railway.' The 295 miles of the road were opened in October, 1892, the Canadian Pacific Railway agreeing to operate it for the first five years, furnish the rolling stock, and retain all income other than the subsidy. To estimate correctly the resources which from various channels have been provided for the construction and operation of this 295 miles of prairie road is scarcely possible upon the information available. But a more or less close approximation may be calculated from the above facts. Railways sometimes calculate their land grant upon a basis of $3 an acre. The Calgary and Edmonton Company will not say that half that figure is an excessive basis. That gives $2,832,000 under that head. To this amount must be added the roads' bonded indebtedness, consisting of $5,458,940 first mortgage 6 per cent. 20year bonds. It may be that these bonds were subjected to a discount, but the measure of guarantee which was given them by means of the mail subsidy no doubt materially strengthened them. Roughly speaking, therefore, and leaving out of the addition the mail subsidies, the promoters raised upon the road in bonds and land the amount of $28,000 per mile. The cost of the road, according to the company's own figures, has been $3,717,882, or $13,000 a mile. Actually, however, the road did not cost them more than probably $7,000 a mile. The roadbed is now in very poor condition. At this rate the total cost was $2,065,000, and over against this is a