SUGGESTIONS TO SPORTSMEN. 411 



for a week before goini^ into the field, he will per- 

 ceive the effects. 



So also, to ac(iiure quickness: if the reader will 

 throw two small objects — pennies, or the like — into 

 the air, and endeavor to aim at or hit them both 

 before they reach the ground, he will in a short time 

 obtain such facility that he will be able to lay down 

 his gun, and after throwing the pennies, to pick it 

 up and hit them both twice out of three times. 



To shoot at pigeons from a trap, robins from 

 trees, and even swallows on the w^ing, alihough the 

 practice differs greatly from shooting at game, is 

 useful to a certain extent ; but steady and long-con- 

 tinued, practice of this nature is injurious rather 

 than beneficial. It is somewhat notorious that the 

 celebrated, pigeon-shots are generally poor marks- 

 men in the tield, and entirely at a loss in thick 

 covert. 



After all, however, the best place to learn the use 

 of the gun, while it is by all odds the pleasantest, is 

 in the field ; where, amid the thousand beauties of 

 nature, and under the excitement of the presence of 

 game, the sportsman by slow degrees overcomes 

 the innumerable difficulties that surround the art 

 of shooting flying. 



Closely allied to skill in killing the right object is 

 the ability to avoid killing the wrong one. A gun is 

 extremely dangerous — how much so is known only 

 to those who have handled it long ; in spite of the 

 best care it will occasionally go off at unexpected 

 times, and in careless hands is sure, sooner or later, 



