26 SHOOTING AND SALMON FISHING 



for one marksman who has remained constant to his first love 

 there are ninety-nine who have discarded the black beauty for 

 the blonde; and it cannot be too strongly impressed on waverers 

 who wish to give the nitro compounds a fair trial, they should 

 make up their minds hard and fast to shoot the whole season 

 through with it, and never yet have we met any shooter doing 

 this who has reverted to saltpetre. 



When taking' the field with a single companion, or in line 

 with several, or in cover with an army of keepers, beaters, and 

 stops, there are very distinctly right and wrong ways of carry- 

 ing a gun, and an endeavour has been made to illustrate all 

 the usual ways of so doing. 



Nos. I and 2. — Neither of these positions is fatiguing, and 

 both of them are very prepared ways of carrying ; but unless 

 out alone or on the extreme left of the line, neither of them is 

 safe for others. 



No. 3. — Is safe and pleasant when walking in line, or posted 

 in cover, but not so in going from beat to beat in file or in 

 groups ; the. hammers should then be reversed, and the trigger- 

 guard turned to the sky as in No. 4. Unless this is done, the 

 muzzle of a gun carried as in No. 3 will point full into the 

 faces of those coming in the rear, and wherever there are 

 several people together, No. 4 is absolutely the safest way of 

 carrying. 



No. 5. — Is safe and pleasant if walking in line or leading a 

 file ; but, needless to say, highly dangerous if thus held in 

 a crowd, and the author knows of a case where a party passing 

 along a narrow ride in a wood, and one of the rear guns carry- 

 ing his weapon as in No. 5, the hammers were caught by a 

 bough, and the gun was exploded, with the result of laming 

 for life the unfortunate shooter in front. 



No. 6. — Is an example of how not to do it, for should the 

 foot slip, the shooter will have no power to keep the gun in 

 its place on the shoulder, and a lurch to one side will send it 

 flying, and bury the muzzles in the earth ; and we have been 



