TRAP-SHOOTING. 299 
frequently not finished till repeated several times. 
At the New York State Convention of 1865, held 
at Niagara Falls, the parties tying one another were 
set back five yards at every tie, and still at thirty-one 
yards four birds out of five were killed with a single 
barrel—although, of course, at this distance much 
will depend upon the direction and mode of flight. 
Success, even with the use of both barrels, will re- 
quire far more brilliant shooting than in the present 
mode. 
There has always been great dispute among trap- 
shooters as to the best trap. The New York City 
Club claims that a bird released from a ground-trap, 
selecting his own time to rise, and mode and direc- 
tion of flight, is harder to kill than one tossed 
heels over head from a plunge or spring-trap. But 
our Western brethren, who are naturally more rapid, 
and who have less difficulty in obtaining pigeons, 
are so annoyed with the waste of time occasioned 
by a dilatory pigeon, that they universally prefer 
the plunge-trap. 
Probably the mesne between these two opinions 
is correct, or more properly a combination of them 
both; a single bird is undoubtedly harder to kill at a 
ground-trap, whereas the plunge-trap will free the 
two birds in double-shooting, to go off at the same 
moment. So that for these reasons, and to insure 
skill at both, they should be appropriated to these 
offices respectively. The best Western shot, if not 
the best gentleman shot in the world, who has 
killed his eighty-four out of ninety double birds, 
