138 FINISHING LESSONS 



all events, can do no harm. If you cannot acquire the 

 knack of doing this, your snap-shot birds, being struck 

 in the breast, will go off, and tower before they drop. 



If you have a double gun, always contrive as much 

 as possible to get cross shots (which you will most likely 

 do by walking across, or heading your dog, instead of 

 going, like a bungler, directly from him to the game), 

 or otherwise your second-barrel birds, by flying straight 

 away up wind, down wind, or, in short, in the smoke, 

 may sometimes defy the best shot in Europe. Recollect 

 further, that, as birds fly across you, they not only be- 

 come clear of the smoke, but give you more time, and 

 present to your charge a more vital part. Be assured 

 there is a great deal of generalship (if I may use the 

 expression) as well as marksmanship in showing off a 

 brilliant day's shooting. But, when a man, over his 

 bottle, talks to his company of killing to a certainty 

 double shots in whatever situation you choose to spring 

 the game, within forty yards, " hear him," as Lord 

 Chesterfield says, " with patience, and at least seeming 

 attention ;" although you might feel disposed to confer 

 on him the order of the long bow, or put him on your 

 list for a knight's companion of the golden hatchet. 

 Recollect, however, it is but liberal to allow those 

 persons who have most frequently the mortification to 

 do but little, the comfort of astonishing the credulous 

 by talking a great deal. 



In firing at random distances, where birds are crossing 

 you at the distance of sixty or seventy yards, the average 

 of good shots generally present not more than half a 

 foot before them. But it should be recollected, that 

 after the shot has been driven through the air to the 

 point-blank distance, it travels so much slower^ that 



