The Serene Duck Hunter 



long shot missed is found in the claim 

 that, though the sound of shot strik- 

 ing the bird is distinctly heard, their 

 penetration is ineffective. Sometimes 

 failure is attributed to the towering 

 or turning of the duck at the instant 

 of the gun's discharge. It is at times 

 useful to impute failure to the proba- 

 bility that the particular cartridge 

 used was stale and weak; and when 

 all these are inadmissible, the small 

 size of the shot and the faulty quality 

 or quantity of powder they contain, 

 may be made to do service; and, 

 in extreme cases, their entire con- 

 struction as well as their constructor 

 may be roundly cursed as causes for a 

 miscarriage of fatal results. 



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