Snap-Shooting . 3 1 



'ee aim at his poll.' From this it was but a short step 

 to be trusted with the single- barrel, and finally with 

 the double ; ultimately having one of his own and 

 walking his own distinct rounds. 



He is now a keen shot, even better than his 

 father ; for it is often observed that at a certain age 

 young beginners in most manual arts reach an excel- 

 lence which in later years fails them. Perhaps the 

 muscles are more elastic, and respond instantaneously 

 to the eye. This mere boy at snap-shooting in the 

 1 rough ' will beat crack sportsmen hollow. At the 

 trap with pigeons he would probably fail ; but in a 

 narrow lane where the rabbits, driven out by the fer- 

 rets, just pop across barely a yard of open ground, 

 where even a good shot may miss repeatedly, he is 

 I death ' itself to the ? bunnies.' So, too, with a wood- 

 hare — i.e. those hares that always lie in the woods 

 as others do in the open fields and on the uplands. 

 They are difficult to kill. They slip quietly out from 

 the form in the rough grass under the ashstole, and all 

 you have for guidance is the rustling and, perhaps, 

 the tips of the ears, the body hidden by the tangled 

 dead ferns and 'rowetty' stuff. When you try to 

 aim the barrel knocks against the ashpoles, which are 

 inconveniently near together, or the branches get in 

 the way, and the hare dodges round a tree, and your 



