RABBITS, PARTRIDGES, PIGEONS 157 



itself is able sometimes to carry off shot to a sur- 

 prising extent. 



These shots at pigeons from the woodland paths 

 are generally snapshots ; if you wait, the bird is 

 the other side of a tree and out of danger. I 

 should call it hard snap-shooting. But there is this 

 in the gunner's favour : the pigeon makes a good 

 deal of noise in starting from its tree or from the 

 ground ; it does not steal away as some woodland 

 birds will. It is rather a blunderer at first, and this 

 favours the gunner. The worst of these snapshots at 

 pigeons among the trees is that one is apt to wing 

 birds : they never run when winged, and by reason 

 of their colour, which does not assimilate with the 

 ground, are easily found in the thickest coverts ; 

 but one wants mercifully to kill one's game out- 

 right. A broadside shot at a pigeon is more likely 

 to kill outright, and still more so is the shot at a 

 wood-pigeon coming straight towards and over the 

 gun. 



Pigeons with crops full of acorns or green food 

 from the fields, or later on ivy berries, are more 

 easily approached, being comparatively sluggish ; 

 but it is not so satisfactory to get them thus, at a 

 disadvantage. 



Towards night, or on a December day as early 

 as about four in the afternoon, the pigeons begin 

 to settle on their sleeping quarters, which they 

 shift according to where the wind sits. If there 

 is a path under spruces or larches or dark pines, 

 where you shoot, you may often get a shot a little 



