' TOUJOURS PERDRIX- 1 105 



shooter. I have seen in print some absurd sugges- 

 tions, that you should aim on the bird and then toss 

 the gun forward to where you think your shot should 

 meet him ; but this is manifestly a bad system for 

 every reason. It really involves two aims, and when 

 birds are flying fast it is all anybody can do to throw 

 quick enough in front, while the ' toss ' never can be 

 accurate. In the case of a bird coming quite straight 

 and directly over your head, you may do it with 

 advantage, since the gun, when put up to the spot 

 you mean to arrive at, will blot out the body of the 

 approaching bird, and it is necessary to point for a 

 fraction of a second at his beak to keep your line of 

 aim true. But if he is coming in the slightest possible 

 curve or aslant, it becomes fatal at once. 



One cannot, therefore, exaggerate the importance 

 from the first of shooting on the plan that there is a 

 spot in the air where your shot must strike the bird, 

 and that you must raise your gun directly to align 

 that spot. A delightful phrase to illustrate the result 

 of the opposite system was heard by a friend of mine, 

 addressed by a Norfolk keeper to a shooter who was 

 for some reason or another missing clean an extra- 

 ordinary number of shots at partridges. ' Why, sir, 

 yew don't fare ' to see the birds this moarnin' ; yew 

 1 Seem. 



