276 SUGGESTIONS TO SPORTSMEN. 
Now, the author cannot shoot, and never could; 
but he manages to bring home as many quail, wood 
cock, snipe, rail, ruffed grouse, and ducks, on the 
average, as any of his friends. He observes that 
most of them miss as often as he does, with no bet- 
ter excuses, and some far oftener; but still he never, 
to the best of his belief, saw the season during which 
he killed—that is, bagged—one-half of the birds he 
shot at. Some professionals, of course, shoot at one 
kind of game wonderfully; the gunners of Long 
Island Bay are astoundingly accurate on wild-fowl, 
but would not kill one quail in a week; while some 
men who could scarcely touch a duck, handle their 
guns splendidly in the thickest cover. Professionals, 
however, usually yield the best chances to their em- 
ployers, and may be more skilful than they seem ; 
but among amateurs the author claims a rank that 
will at least entitle him to judge of others. 
The majority of persons rarely consider how many 
birds escape, without the fault of the marksman; at 
over thirty yards the best gun, especially when a 
little dirty, will leave openings in the charge where 
a°bird may be hit with only one shot, if at all. 
Ducks, the larger bay-snipe, ruffed grouse, and, 
above all, quail late in the season, will carry off 
several shots— flying away apparently unhurt, al- 
though in the end they may fall dead. If the gun 
was held perfectly straight this would happen less fre- 
quently ; but to so hold it is almost impossible, for no 
living man could kill, once in a dozen times, a flying 
bird with a single ball; and even then the probabi- 
