428 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



hand, the slightest jerk or flinch on pulling trigger, 

 will throw the charge a little too high or a little 

 too low, and though a good bag may be the result, 

 it will not be as good as it might have been ; for 

 however well a number of fowl may be placed, it is 

 no certain affair to put the bulk of the charge aright 

 from a swivel-gun, however simple it may seem. As 

 to flinching, why, not one man in six can snap an 

 empty shoulder-gun with perfectly steady hand and 

 open eye. A rest, as some use, with a half circle cut 

 in the surface of it to take the barrel, is a bad plan, 

 as then the punt has to be turned accurately towards 

 the birds instead of the muzzle by the shooter ; the 

 latter act the work of an instant compared to the 

 former. A properly made rest is flat and smooth on 

 the top, so as to allow the gun to be pointed to the 

 right or left as required. If you have to wait till 

 you can get the punt directed on the fowl, the shot 

 may be lost. In a double punt, a slight move of 

 either hand, right hand to the right, left hand to the 

 left, is plain enough to understand, and one hand 

 kept up a few seconds and still, as notice to stop, 

 the man in the stern would at once understand. 

 But the puntsman will often as not see quite as well 

 as the shooter, especially if using the setting-pole, 

 and with play on your part to direct the muzzle, 

 which a proper rest ensures, he can't go far wrong 

 as to direction. 



The signs and movements of feet and hands that 

 are recommended by some writers as necessary in 

 a double punt are all nonsense ; shooters don't think 

 of more than a slight motion of hands as described. 

 To make a rest sit fair outboard, the curve of the 



