240 ON THE WING. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 



THE shooting of wild and domestic pigeons is a 

 practice well calculated to increase the sports- 

 man's skill in shooting on the wing, and especially in 

 making snap-shots. 



This kind of sport is conducted by clubs and asso- 

 ciations, for the purpose of giving members opportuni- 

 ties to shoot at flying birds, and it is practised more in 

 the Western and Middle than in the Eastern States. 

 Owing to the want of efficient game laws, or the lax- 

 ity with which those already existing in some of the 

 States are enforced, game is constantly becoming 

 scarce throughout the country ; and, in my opinion, 

 the art of shooting on the wing must be entirely given 

 up in some sections, unless the game laws be made 

 more effective. Should the former result occur, pigeon- 

 shooting will be the only kind of sport left for those 

 who love to pull the trigger. Even now, in some large 

 cities and towns of the Eastern States, the expert who 

 wishes to try his new gun, or the novice desirous of 

 testing his progress in the art, must go to the shoot- 

 ing-club, if he would be sure of finding game. 



Seldom will the sportsman have a more trying occa- 

 sion for his nerves, seldom will he have greater need 

 of all his coolness and quickness combined, than when 

 at the stand in his first pigeon-shoot. Many an ex- 



