114 ^ Book of the Snipe. 



the '* lift and swingf " method I have re- 

 commended above appears to resemble the 

 second on the list more than any other, 

 though it differs in one important particular 

 — i.e., that in my plan it is fatal to be in any 

 way conscious of the primary alignment on 

 the bird. And this for a very good reason. 

 Consciousness that your gun is pointed at 

 the object means catching sight of your game 

 and your gun -barrels simultaneously, and a 

 man who does this constantly will never 

 make a snipe-shot. The unconscious effort, 

 too, to preserve the alignment has the effect 

 of checking the swing of the gun, and I 

 have invariably found that when bird and 

 barrels were both visible, a miss behind was 

 the result. By my method, in shots from 

 left to right I see the bird only ; in shots 

 from right to left, or at birds going straight 

 away, I see nothing but the gun at the 

 moment of firing, the bird being hidden by 

 the barrels. There is, of course, nothing new 

 in all this. The method has been practised 

 ever since shooting at flying birds began. 

 But to beginners this losing sight of the 



