ALLOWANCE 381 



and blazed at by anyone who can put in a barrel 

 at any distance, jubilant rather than regretful if 

 he can conscientiously assert that he has hit 

 it. This kind of thing, although it may not be 

 premeditated cruelty, is none the less horribly 

 cruel. I am quite willing to admit that it is 

 almost invariably the result of pure thoughtless- 

 ness and excitement. We cannot, it is true, all 

 be crack shots ; but we can, at all events, refrain 

 from shooting at game, whether it be ground or 

 winged, at unwarrantably long range. There is 

 no credit in making an unduly long shot ; the 

 performance is indicative less of skill than want 

 of experience and true sportsmanlike feeling. 



More game is missed, and more suffering is 

 inflicted, by shooting low and behind the object 

 than well forward and above it. Low shooting is 

 generally attributable to the gun being unsuitable 

 to the user i.e., not sufficiently straight in the 

 stock shooting behind from the want of proper 

 allowance. It is rarely indeed that a miss is the 

 result of aim being taken too far in front of the 

 object. The speed at which birds can travel when 

 well on the wing is very great. It may be asked, 

 What allowance is it requisite to make on a cross- 

 ing shot at, say, forty yards' distance ? It is a 

 question which has been asked time after time in 

 our sporting papers, yet one which it is impossible 

 to answer accurately. I think, however, that it 

 may be assumed that, as a general rule, the allow- 

 ance should never be less than a yard, an allowance 



