}\'OODPIGEON SHOOTING (PART /) 427 



Give me a driving snowstorm, with a royal north- 

 easter and . a wood frequented by plenty of pigeons, 

 and from dawn to dusk I would not for one moment 

 change my lot with the man who, in fair weather, was 

 banging away throughout the best day's game shooting 

 in England. 



There is, however, a deal more generalship re- 

 quired in arranging a successful campaign against 

 woodpigeons than many people would suppose. 



' There's a wood, there are the pigeons flying 

 about it, and here is a gun.' 



Now, if a young shooter sets to work on this 

 principle, and merely blazes away at the birds in, or 

 perhaps out of range, he may probably bag a few in 

 the wood in question; but, if he acts with judgment, 

 as I will endeavour to show him how r , he will certainly 

 kill thrice as many of the pigeons he sees as if he set 

 to work in haphazard style. 



There are four distinct methods of shooting wood- 

 pigeons, each of which requires a different arrange- 

 ment on the part of the shooter. Here they are : 



1st. Shooting the birds in a covert throughout the 

 day as they now and then fly into it from the adjacent 

 fields on which they happen to be feeding. 



2nd. Shooting them inside a covert as they resort 



