46 ON THE WING. 



he comes within five or six rods, and offers a chance 

 for a fair, open shot. To shoot well on the wing is a 

 science, and your object is not merely to see how many 

 birds you can bag in a given number of successive 

 shots. This rule might perhaps do on the open moors 

 of Europe, where the shooting is open and fair, but it 

 will not succeed in this country. The young sports- 

 man ought never to rest content with this kind of 

 shooting; nor will he, when once he has become a 

 fair shot. He will delight in cutting down quickly 

 and cleanly the woodcock, or other bird, which he sees 

 fly but a yard or a foot before it disappears behind a 

 maple-top or a cluster of alders, — planting his shot so 

 that when it comes out to the next open space it is a 

 dead bird. This is the perfection of shooting on the 

 wing : to be ready for any emergency of distance, 

 speed, or angle of flight; or when getting but the 

 merest glimpse of the yellow tail of the woodcock, as 

 he disappears almost instantly. And this is the kind 

 of shot which old sportsmen like to make. Let it be 

 understood, in this connection, that the sportsman 

 cannot always cut down every bird by a snap-shot. 

 He will often miss, as he will often kill, when there is 

 apparently no chance of success. But what does the 

 sportsman go into the woods for ? Is it for the sake 

 of carrying his gun, powder, and shot through a long, 

 hot day ? If he does not take his chances as they offer, 

 especially when shooting woodcock in July or August, 

 he will never make the bag that the sportsman does 

 who improves his chances. 



Many good sportsmen erroneously suppose that a 



