286 GUN-FLASH BY NIGHT. 



though we are well aware that the subject has formed 

 a regular branch of study among military experts, with 

 a view to their use during night attacks in war; 

 which will probably, for several reasons, form a leading 

 feature in the next great war. But this again is 

 another technical matter beyond the scope of our present 

 subject. 



Time and space oblige us to confine our remarks 

 upon it within as narrow limits as we can. One of 

 the reasons however, which makes it so hard to ascer- 

 tain what the effect of one's shot is, on dark nights, 

 is because the brilliant flash of his own gun dazzles 

 the hunter for a time, and thus prevents his seeing 

 what the effect of the shot has been ; for even during 

 bright moonlight, if an animal is standing in the shade 

 against a dark background, it is not always easy to 

 see clearly what occurs, and before one's eyes again 

 become accustomed to the dim light, the startled game 

 has rushed off and become enveloped in the surround- 

 ing- darkness, unless indeed it has at once fallen to the 

 shot. For this reason it is always better to shoot by 

 night from a rifle-pit or "shooting hole," as hunters 

 call it, rather than from a tree, though the latter is 

 no doubt the safest of the two in the case of dangerous 

 animals being about because there is a better chance 

 of getting a good view of the outline of the game 

 from the ground level, than if perched up above it and 

 obliged to fire down in the shades beneath. 



Then the stand must be carefully chosen, so as to 

 be as far as possible in such a position that the game 

 cannot take the wind of the hunter : not by any means 

 an easy matter at all times; the hunter will however 

 of course have duly made a careful reconnaissance 



