276 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



off, alternately, bird for bird, unless some previ- 

 ous arrangement should exist among the shooters. 

 All dogs and outsiders should be warned without 

 the bounds, before the shooting commences, and 

 if, in the opinion of the judge, a shooter is any 

 way interfered with, he must be allowed another 

 bird. There may be one or two judges ap- 

 pointed by the makers of the match, though it is 

 better in our opinion to have but one. Eighty 

 yards limit and twenty-one yards rise for single 

 birds, with fifteen for double, are the usual dis- 

 tances in this country, though we believe the 

 rules of the old English clubs allowed twenty 

 yards more to the bounds. It appears to us that 

 in private matches with double birds, two traps 

 should be used, placed at least five yards apart. 

 This would lessen the liability of both birds being 

 killed by one barrel, and spring-traps being used 

 in this case, and sprung precisely at the same 

 moment, would give fair double shots to each 

 shooter, and bring his skill more decidedly into 

 play, as the pith of the sport consists in the 

 strength with which the birds fly. The passen- 

 ger pigeon (Columba migratoria) has been fre- 

 quently shot from traps in this country, and when 

 not disabled by confinement, affords excellent 

 sport. It flies very swiftly, and, in general, 



