BREAKING AND HANDLINJG. 29! 



former's determination to kill. It is particularly beneficial 

 to puppies or timid dogs. 



Point your gun at a companion at times. It is a del- 

 icate, friendly familiarity, and the distress, anxiety or 

 fear produced will be intensely amusing and refreshing. 

 Your friend may be killed, yet the possibility should not 

 be considered. A friend who will not submit to some 

 danger and distress for the diversion of a friend is not worth 

 having. If fatal, it is only one more added to the list of 

 "didn't mean to," or " didn't know it was loaded." Many 

 true sportsmen justly consider the trick as being one of the 

 most loutish and ruffianly that is possible, be the standing 

 otherwise of the perpetrator what it may. The joker may 

 know that the gun is not loaded, but the jokee cannot pos- 

 sibly know it, and the long lists of homicides from similar 

 acts do not tend to allay his fears. No man can be consid- 

 ered a true friend who will wantonly terrify a friend, or jeop- 

 ardize his life for amusement. 



Always shoot on your friend's side of a bevy. It is an 

 unnecessary refinement to shoot on your own side, although 

 the practice is much in vogue amongst skillful sportsmen. 

 If you are a poor shot but a good and consistent claimer 

 of birds, it will add materially to your success. 



Always make what should be a jointly pleasant hunt a 

 keen competition or race. Banter your friend for a wager 

 that you can beat him shooting; that your dog can beat his 

 dog, and that your gun will shoot better than his tell him 

 so repeatedly. He will love you dearly for many qualities 

 which hogs have not. 



Make the fields resonant with your loquacity. Nothing 

 is pleasanter or more conducive to success than an 

 eternally prattling companion, particularly in cold, rainy or 

 windy weather, when the birds are extremely wild. If you 

 observe that your talk flushes the birds, you then have a 



