HOW TO SHOOT. 43 



living mark. Go into the woods alone, and make it 

 a rule not to shoot at anything unless it is " On the 

 Wing" Having now got through with your play- 

 things, you must begin to shift for yourself with a 

 new kind of target, — one that is always in the air, 

 and moving with very various degrees of velocity. 

 Shoot at almost anything that happens to be fly- 

 ing within a reasonable distance, — robins, sparrows, 

 blue-jays, &c, — remembering that these are often 

 more difficult to hit than the regular game-birds, 

 whose flight is more steady. To make a fair show of 

 work, you should not be more than three or four rods 

 distant. Their bodies are so very small, and their 

 flight so irregular, that even a crack shot will per- 

 haps miss as many as he kills. In this practice use 

 No. 9 shot. After making two or three such visits 

 to the woods, having acquired confidence in yourself, 

 and feeling at home with the gun, you are ready to 

 seek for the real game. After making one fair bag, 

 you will bid adieu forever both to target and small 

 birds ; for the bagging of one good partridge, quail, 

 or woodcock will so set you up, in your own estima- 

 tion, that to return to your old practice would be 

 like a wholesale merchant's going back to an apple- 

 stand. 



Now, to perfect yourself, take a stanch, well-trained 

 setter or pointer, and go into the open fields, searching 

 for quail along some hedge or stone-wall. When your 

 dog makes a point, stand firm and order him for- 

 ward ; or walk boldly up until the bird rises, then throw 

 your gun upon him just as with the small birds and 



