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his place among his elders and sample the 

 easily-won results of what journalists term 

 the * modern battue,' without first serving 

 his apprenticeship with the gun, learning 

 how to rely on himself in the field, and 

 not always to expect everything, except 

 pulling the trigger, to be done for him 

 by others as a matter of course. To feel 

 that success or failure rests entirely with 

 yourself, that you must work hard and 

 use your wits to some purpose if you 

 would realize but a modest total at the 

 end of the day, develops in time a faculty 

 for close and accurate observation which 

 nothing else can give. 



To the possessor of this faculty each 

 day's shooting is a new lesson ; he is for 

 ever making mental notes for future use 

 at first perhaps consciously, but soon 

 intuitively, till at last he comes to have 

 something akin with the wild hunting 

 animal, knowing without knowing why 

 he knows, and failing to understand how 

 others can miss seeing what to him is so 

 obvious. Turn such a man loose in a 



