WING SHOOTING. 39 



" For the simple illustration of the bearing of these expe- 

 riments on the art of shooting on the wing I will suppose 

 that at the moment of fire the gun is stationary; in other 

 words, that we are firing 'snap-shots.' If the bird has a 

 velocity across the line of sight of 30 miles an hour (/. <?., 

 44 ft. per sec.), and we are using charges in a 12-gauge gun 

 of 3^ drs. of powder and i^ oz. of shot, we will have to 

 shoot about 5 feet ahead of the bird if it is flying at a dis- 

 tance of 30 yards; at 7 feet ahead if at a distance of 40 

 yards, and 1 1 feet ahead of the bird if at a distance of 

 50 yards. 



"These distances ahead for cross shots at birds flying at 

 the rate of 30 miles an hour, may appear out of all reason 

 with the experience of many sportsmen; yet if you will place 

 a stick 5 feet long at 40 yards and ask the same gunners if 

 they would hold ahead of a bird by that length if it were 

 going with a velocity of 30 miles, I venture to say, from my 

 experiments with them, that they will say, 'Of course; 

 that is only about 18 inches,' so difficult is it to determine 

 a length at a distance while sighting along the barrel 

 of a gun. 



" I will conclude with the remark that the study of this 

 paper will not make a good shot on the wing no more than 

 a description of how to perform on the violin will make an 

 accomplished violinist. But the results of these experi- 

 ments are of value, and cannot but improve the shooting of 

 an accomplished sportsman, if they are practically applied." 



