42 The Partridge Family 



cases out of ten, a nervous man shoots too 

 quickly. He is so worked up and so full of 

 what he intends to do, that he pulls trigger 

 before the gun is where it should be and then, 

 if he uses the second barrel, he rattles it in some- 

 where about the general direction. This, of course, 

 is no way to shoot, and a comical feature about it 

 is that every now and then the haphazard method 

 kills — possibly on a certain lucky day, for several 

 times in succession. Then the nervous man 

 grows idiotically enthusiastic, and declares that 

 he has just caught the hang of it. On some other 

 day he begins by missing, gets rattled, and makes 

 a mess of things generally, whereupon he adds to 

 his excitement by losing his temper and usually 

 winds up by fluently cursing the dog, or the gun, 

 or the shells. Young sportsmen should remem- 

 ber that exhibitions of temper and foolish attempts 

 at explanation are sure indications of inferior skill 

 and bad manners. In crisp contrast is the vet- 

 eran's perhaps mirthful " I was behind," or " too 

 low," in explanation of his failure. He well 

 knows where lay the fault, and instead of prat- 

 ing about it, forms a grim resolve to remedy it 

 the next opportunity. 



There is no need for undue haste in quail 

 shooting in the open. The birds, as a rule, rise 

 within a few yards, more often than not from 

 almost under foot, and almost invariably their 



