'TOUJOURS PERDRIX' 117 



but I have so often had to listen to the reiteration of 

 this nonsense about rifle-shooting being fatal to game- 

 shooting that I have thought it well to record these 

 facts. I am very sure that either de Grey or Henry 

 Whitehead of Bury, who were in constant practice with 

 both gun and rifle, and no doubt others, would have 

 been equally capable of doing it. 



Another important feature of good style is 'time.' 

 There is, no doubt, one moment in the flight of most 

 birds you shoot at when they are more killable than 

 at any other. Whether this be really so in all shots 

 it is hard to say, but at any rate it always appears so, 

 and if you are looking on at a first-rate shooting per- 

 formance you will notice that the discharge and the 

 death of the bird always occur precisely at the moment 

 when you feel that they should do so. A bad or 

 moderate shot nearly always appears to shoot either 

 too soon or too late. 



Now, time is very essential in partridge-shooting. 

 The partridge is a small and not a tough bird, and 

 often very close to you, both when you are driving 

 and walking ; consequently he must not be smashed. 

 But he is a very fast bird, and, therefore, must not be 

 allowed to go too far. If one can at all lay down a 

 rule, I would say shoot soon at him when he is driven, 

 and late rather than too soon when he rises near you. 



