HOW TO LEARN TO SHOOT. 135 



bursting." The above quotation, as well as several which 

 follow, is from Stonehenge's " Manual of British Rural 

 Sports," and is well worthy of attention, as are the remarks 

 ensuing on the first lesson of shooting. 



Previous, however, to using the plan hereafter indi- 

 cated, I would recommend that the learner should be 

 placed in position, that is to say, with the left foot 

 advanced, the knee slightly bent, about eighteen inches in 

 front of the right, on which the weight of his body should 

 rest ; holding the gun at the level of his hip, with the 

 butt below his right elbow, his left hand grasping the front 

 of the trigger-guard, perpendicularly to the barrel, the 

 gun being at half-cock. The thumb of his right hand 

 should be on the striker, and the finger nail of the fore- 

 finger touching the inside of the trigger-guard, before the 

 trigger. 



In front of him there should be a whitewashed wall, with 

 a black mark, the size of half a dollar, at about the level of 

 his eye. On this mark he should steadily rivet his sight, 

 and raise the gun to his shoulder, cocking it with his thumb, 

 while in the act of bringing it up, and then lower his 

 cheek to the stock. 



It will not as yet be necessary to attempt to take any 

 aim at the object, or to rectify the first direction. The 

 lesson to be acquired is, first, to attain the knack of cock- 

 ing the gun quickly, yet deliberately, while it is in mo- 

 tion from the hip to the shoulder ; and secondly, to gain 

 the habit of instinctively throwing the point toward the 

 object to be aimed at. 



The gun should not be snapped, or the trigger drawn ; 



