I Chap. XJ V, 

 71 TAHA. :i6 1 



is meant filing into the ah" at the place where you judge the 

 bird will be when the shot reaches that place. In the con- 

 cluding paragraph the former method is advocated, so much 

 so that care is taken to avoid the use of the ^sord ''aim," 

 since in swinging tiiere must be the initial alignment of 

 the gun on the bird, but it is better termed " co\ering,' or 

 " moving the guu on the object," or anything that does not 

 sug<^'est deliberate aiming. For the swinging method it 

 is claimed that it reduces the processes involved to tliree, 

 viz., (i) spotting the bird, (<?) raising the gun and moving 

 it with, and on, the bird, and [ui) estimating in terms of 

 the linear distance which the bird has to travel the time 

 the shot will take to reach him. One factor present in 

 the " carrying forward '' method, viz., the time taken to 

 fire, may be eliminated, since pressing the trigger becomes 

 automatic, being part and parcel of the general svvinging 

 motion. More than this, the man who, witliout swing, 

 is going to tr}^ and cut in on the place where the bird 

 will be has to perform a calculation before he even begins 

 to do anything else, a calculation too which is unassisted 

 by the muscular sense-guide derived from the propor- 

 tionately-timed swing. Again, the getting ready to tire, 

 divorced of the helptul swinging movement, takes longer 

 than it otherwise would, which is no unimportant matter 

 when it is realised that some persons take * six times as 

 long as others to convert a visual image into a voluntary 

 muscular action. Finally, it is urged, that in firing as 

 you swing, you get the resultant of two forces, outwards 

 and forwards, a farther insurance against taking too 

 little allowance. t Lord Walsiugham, who no doubt was a 

 man in whom both accuracy and rapidity of the expres- 

 sion of muscular sense was very exceptional, holds that 

 " accuracy and rapidity in shooting depend more on the 

 act of putting the guu to the shoulder than upon what 

 movement is given it after it is there,"' His advice on 

 how to deal with driven grouse is attached to sub-para 

 IV below, but it is interesting to see that, while the above 

 remark of his might seem to be good authority for the 

 " carry forward ' method, in the passages which iiave been 

 underlined, he distinctly advocates swinging. 



To sum up. — If we classify the possible kinds of 

 shot into " cross,"' " quartering,"' " ascending," " des- 

 cending/' "approaching" and "retreating"' shots, swing 

 will be most needed on the first of all and the last two,but 

 it can hardly be dispensed with in any. There seems in fact 

 to be only one occasion stop which the ordinary man can 



* Dr. flonimj on the "Physioloiiy of Slioot'iiK," Field, It'ebruniv 

 lUtli, 1^87. . ^^ 



t badmiutou Library, "Shooting (Moor and Marsli).' 



