43 SHOOTING. 



To kill birds flying across either to the right or left, aUowance 

 must be made by the shooter both for the distance he is from them, 

 the strength of the birds, and also the velocity of their motion : for 

 it must be taken into account that the flight of a partridge in 

 November will be greatly accelerated to what it was Uyo months 

 before. Practice atone can teach these mifiutics, which, if fixed at 

 any given space, or attempted to be uniformly regulated upon paper, 

 might lead the marksman erroneously in the field. It may, how- 

 ever, be mentioned, that in a cross-shot to the right the difficulty 

 is very much increased, if the right leg is first when the birds rise ; 

 the gun cannot then be brought but a very trifle beyond a straight 

 line to the right, and frequently gentlemen stand with their feet 

 thirty inches apart when in the act of firing — a position that efi^ec- 

 tually prevents them bringing their guns to bear upon a crossing 

 object. IVlien dogs point, or when game has been marked, and 

 expected to spring, the walk should be with short and easy steps ; 

 the body can then be easily turned upon the legs, as if on a pivot, 

 and the range of the bird commanaed,^ even if it should fly quite 

 round the sportsman. The science of aiming accm-ately, however, 

 •ttdll be of little service, except the gun be held steady from all startiag 

 or flinching in the action of firing ; it is tx) small pm-pose to traverse 

 the gun with the celerity of a bird fljdng rapidly in a transverse 

 direction, if the person suspends that motion when he touches 

 the trigger to pull it. In this interlapse between the beginning of 

 the pull and the appulse of the shot to fire, and thnty or forty yards' 

 distance (be the pull and stroke of the cock as short, and the fire 

 as quick as possible), any bird of game ^vill, in a serene day, gainj 

 progressively ia its flight above two yards, ? 'd with a rough wind,, 

 considerably more. Quickness of sight, and" steady aiming, wiLlI 

 never constitute a marksman, unless the motion of the gun cGrrs^ 

 sponds with them, and receives no check whilst in the act of draw-j 

 iug the trigger." * j 



It forms one of the standing topics of discussion among shooting] 

 sportsman, JF/iat is the average distance of a fair sJiot ? There haal 

 been a great deal wi'itten on this question. Eorty yards is, how-f 

 ever, pretty generally allowed to be a fair average shot ; but there! 

 are many shots fatal at almost double that distance. But the! 

 subject is not susceptible of any determmed solution ; most sports-j 

 men know, to a tolerable certamty what can, and what cannot bej 

 accomplished by their fowling-pieces. I 



Shooting in company has begot a code of laws for the governmentj 

 pf the parties. All bii-ds that cross should be considered as belong-j 

 ing to the gunner to whose side their heads are pointed, unless al 

 previous understanding is come to, that either party may take anf" 

 after-shot at a tailing bu'd. When single bu-ds rise and go away 

 fair for either party, it may be proper to have it previously under- 

 stood that such should be taken alternately by each shooter. 



* Rural Sports, vol. iii, p. 488. 



