THE SINGLE-BAEEEL GUN. 141 



horizontal lines cause an optical illusion, making 

 the object appear in a different position from what 

 it really is in, and half the pellets are sure to be 

 buried in the rails. Wood-pigeons, when eagerly 

 stuffing their crops with acorns, sometimes forget 

 their usual caution ; and, walking slowly, I have often 

 got right underneath one as unconscious of his 

 presence as he was of mine, till a sudden dashing 

 of wings against boughs and leaves announced his 

 departure. This he always makes on the opposite 

 side of the oak, so as to have the screen of the thick 

 branches between himself and the gunner. The wood- 

 pigeon, starting like this from a tree, usually descends 

 in the first part of his flight, a gentle downward curve 

 followed by an upward rise, and thus comes into view 

 at the lower part of the curve. He still seems within 

 shot, and to afford a good mark ; and yet experience 

 has taught me that it is generally in vain to fire. 

 His stout quills protect him at the full range of the 

 gun. Besides, a wasted shot alarms everything 

 within several hundred yards ; and in stalking with a 

 single-barrel it needs as much knowledge to choose 

 when not to fire as when you may. 



The most exciting work with the single-barrel was 

 woodcock shooting ; woodcock being by virtue of rarity 

 a sort of royal game, and a miss at a woodcock a 

 terrible disappointment. They have a trick of skim- 

 ming along the very summit of a hedge, and looking 

 so easy to kill ; but, as they fly, the tops of tall briers 

 here, willow-rods next, or an ash -pole often intervene, 

 and the result is apt to be a bough cut off and nothing 

 more. Snipes, on the contrary, I felt sure of with 



