TELESCOPES.] 



SHOOTING, 



[SHOOTT>G SYSTEMS. 



right-hand large pocket below the waist, and 

 the wadding also ; because you save one move- 

 ment in loading, by taking a wadding out when 

 you put your band into that pocket to return 

 the powder-flasks. Speaking of powder-flasks, 

 we have seen a very simple contrivance for a 

 drinking-cup, by having it made of German 

 silver, or plated, and fitting on to the lower 

 part of the flask. This is the invention, we 

 believe, of a well-known and very excellent 

 sportsman, living in Derbyshire. 



Telescopes. — There is another article form- 

 ing the outfit of a shooter ; and though the last, 

 it is not the least important part of a field 

 equipment. This is a pocket telescope. Two 

 are sometimes carried, of the following descrip- 

 tions: — One about fifteen inches long when 

 drawn out, and three-and-a-half when closed ; 

 and with it you may, on a tolerably clear day, 

 tell the hour by any church clock at three 

 miles' distance; audit will, consequently, enable 

 you to identify the person of any one you may 

 see poaching at a distance ; and it is, of course, 

 equally available on the thousand-and-one occa- 

 sions when its use may be required in an open 



country. The price of these glasses, in leather 

 case complete, is about 11. 16s. The othei* 

 glass is about three inches when drawn out, 

 and two inches closed. It has only one slide. 

 The power of tliis small telescope is extraor- 

 dinary, and would not be conceived by most 

 persons till tried. The handiest way to have 

 it is to draw it out, in the first instance, to the 

 right focus, ranging to about a mile, and tlien 

 cut a piece of card that fits round the moving 

 slide, keeping it from pushing in, and have the 

 card stitched with thread so as not to come off. 

 Tou can carry it thus in a clean pocket on the 

 right-hand side of your shooting-waistcoat, and 

 you are ready to mark birds when they get up, 

 without the loss of a second of time. The re- 

 lative uses of the two glasses will be obvious 

 to any man who has shot much in an open 

 country. The price of the small one is 

 12s. 6^. 



Having thus equipped the young sports- 

 man, and treated of the Moors and the Manors, 

 we will, in our next chapter, treat of Shootiag, 

 in connection with the modes of handling the 

 Gun and the Dog. 



CHAPTER III. 



SHOOTING.— the ONE-EYED AND THE TWO-EYED SYSTEMS ; USING THE GUN ; LOADING ; PRECAUTIONS. 



The theory of shooting involves a complete 

 knowledge of the most advantageous manner of 

 directing the gun when placed to the shoulder, 

 relatively to the game intended to be killed ; 

 and as birds present themselves in various 

 ways — flying away from us in a straight 

 undeviating line at one time ; at another 

 time descending ; sometimes crossing before us 

 either to the right or to the left, or coming 

 directly over our heads — there must be fixed 

 rules for the management of the gun, the accu- 

 rate knowledge of which may be considered as 

 part of the theory of shooting. These rules 

 must be adhered to or deviated from according 

 to circumstances, as the judgment of the sports- 

 man, matured by experience, may suggest at the 

 moment. Por instance, firing at a bird pro- 

 518 



ceeding in a direct straight line, neither rising 

 nor descending, provided the distance do not 

 exceed thirty-five or forty yards, it will sufiice 

 to cover it ; that is to say, to have the elevated 

 rib of the barrel in a straight line with the bird, 

 so that no daylight be visible to the eye between 

 the siglit of the gun and the lower part of the 

 bird, in which case the bird will be hit by the 

 centre of the charge. If the bird, however, be 

 ascending, the gun should be directed slightly 

 above it, and, if descending, below it ; and in 

 all cross-shots, and those coming over the head, 

 the gun ought to be directed one or two feet, 

 and sometimes even more, before the bird — the 

 degrees of distance being regulated by the sup- 

 posed pace of the flight of the bird at the time. 

 But why shoot so far before a bird with a quick- 



