SHOOTING. 127 



the trouble of learning to shoot so afterwards. An aim 

 thus, from the right shoulder, comes to the same point 

 as One taken with the left eye shut, and it is the most 

 ready method of shooting quick. 



Be careful to remind him (as a beginner) to keep his 

 gun moving, as follows : before an object, crossing; 

 full high for a bird rising up, or flying away very low; 

 and between the ears of hares and rabbits, running 

 straight away; all this, of course, in proportion to the 

 distance ; and if we consider the velocity, with which a 

 bird flies, we shall rarely err, by firing, when at forty 

 yards, at least five or six inches before it. (As the 

 barrels of double guns usually shoot a little inwards at 

 long distances, there is so far a preference in favour of 

 the right barrel for an object crossing to the left, and 

 vice versa, that if we were beating along the side of a 

 hedge, it would be best to keep the barrel next to it in 

 a state of preparation.) Till the pupil is aufait in all 

 this, he will find great assistance from the sight, which 

 he should have precisely on the intended point, when 

 he fires. He will thus, by degrees, attain the art of 

 killing his game in good style, which is to fix his eyes 

 on the object, and fire the moment he has brought up 

 the gun. He may then, ultimately, acquire the knack 

 of killing snap shots, and bring down a November bird 

 the moment it tops the stubble, or a rabbit popping in a 

 furze-brake, with more certainty than he was once used 

 to shoot a young grouse in August, or a partridge in 

 September. 



Many begin with very quick shooting, and kill ad- 

 mirably well ; but are often apt not to let their birds 

 fly before they put up their guns, and therefore dread- 

 fully mangle them, and, I have observed, are not such 



