If I would time expend with such a snipe,
But for my sport and profit.”
Othello, Act i. Sc. 3.
The speaker being evidently of opinion that a snipe was too insignificant a bird to the sportsman to warrant his taking much trouble to kill it, except for mere sport.
That there was a good deal more “sport” than “profit” is extremely likely; for it is difficult to believe that the sportsmen of Shakespeare’s day, with guns such as we have described, fired with either fuze or flint, could have successfully stopped the erratic flight of a snipe. That
large numbers of snipe were brought to market, and appeared at table, in Shakespeare’s time, is clear from the numerous entries in the old “Household Book,” where their value is stated to have been “after iii a j d.” There can be little doubt, however, that these were not “shot birds,” but were taken in snares and nets, as our modern fowlers take plovers and other fen birds.
