156 LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



every action, or abstinence from action, is to be judged, or 

 pre-judged, in the light of its potential effect on the safety, 

 convenience and pleasure of each member of that party 

 not merely every shot taken or refused, but every movement, 

 noise, gesture. And such self-control adds not merely to 

 the success of the day, but to the active enjoyment of him 

 who practises it. Our young shooter will learn if he keeps 

 his eyes open that the experienced gun who has imbibed 

 as a boy the keenness and wile of the " lone hunter " with 

 the correct almost traditional behaviour of the sportsman- 

 in-company will get more shooting in the course of the day 

 than anybody less well equipped. A team of such guns 

 constitutes perfection. There is no mutual interference, 

 nor any fear of it ; no noise ; no looking the wrong way ; 

 no stealing a march on one's neighbour ; no selfishness. 

 And in that word lies the summing up of the whole matter. 

 True, there are jealous shots in the highest class of performers. 

 They are well known, and tolerated in spite of their jealousy 

 because of their efficiency. They do not add to the harmony 

 of a day's shooting, and are noticeable on account of their 

 scarcity in such circles, wh:reas in the ranks of mediocre 

 shots they are more plentiful. Do not imitate their methods. 

 An attempt has been made to point out to young shooters 

 that the unwritten rules governing social sport can only be 

 mastered by the exercise of a combination of unselfishness, 

 observation and proper instinct. I am assuming that the 

 would-be sportsman has spent his boyhood otherwise than 

 in the gradual, perhaps unconscious, acquirement of the 

 rudiments of correct behaviour in the field ; the " receptive " 

 period, from a mental point of view, is past, and he will need 

 to make up for lost time by assuming the attitude of a disciple. 

 But the safe and effective method of handling a gun and 

 a certain amount of accuracy in its use can be learnt by 

 mechanical instruction. Exactly as the young dog can 

 be rendered fit to take the field, without unduly disgracing 

 himself, by preliminary lessons in obedience, watchfulness 

 and self-restraint taught in the garden, or even in the dining- 

 room, so can the young shooter resort to one of the many 

 " shooting schools," where he will find an instructor. He 

 will also find that he knows little, and even that little may 



