Winged Vermin Taking Crows and Rooks. 461 



to reach to nests to pull the sticks, most crows are 

 not so remarkably wary as to place their nest in an inac- 

 cessible place. "High Elms/' in the same communication, 

 thus instructs as to how crows may best be shot when in 

 any position which exemplifies being "out in the open ": " If 

 you have got opposite in the adjacent field to where the 

 crow is feeding in the next field, and you have made sure 

 exactly of his being in reach, raise yourself off your knee, 

 and then, in a stooping position^ put the gun to your shoulder 

 tight, rise suddenly up, and swing the gun up over the 

 wall in the same movement with your shoulder. This may 

 be done so quick, that I have many times killed a magpie 

 on the ground." Previously to doing this your left side is 

 to the wall, and the gun parallel to it. The common plan 

 is for the person to take a step or two back, thrust the 

 gun-barrel over the wall, and get it up when his head and 

 shoulders are raised high enough. Any quick bird will 

 see you, and get twenty or thirty yards before you can 

 shoot him. All this is well worth noticing, especially the 

 latter, for no doubt many persons have wondered at their 

 inability to take advantage of opportunities offered by crows 

 and other winged vermin when feeding well within gun- 

 shot of a hedge. 



As before mentioned, on wet, misty evenings crows often 

 congregate together in a wood or plantation, choosing more 

 sheltered roosting places than their ordinary ones. Under 

 these circumstances a couple of guns, one on one side the 

 covert and the second on the other, can easily pick off a 

 good number, the weather and lateness of the hour com- 

 bined causing the unlucky birds to confine themselves 



