Bow -Shooting. 



86 1 



A GOOD TARGET. 



a woodpecker or meadow-lark at twenty paces — not every shot, nor 

 once in five, or in twenty, even ; but you must gel well used to shoot- 

 ing at these birds and to hitting one occasionally before you can 

 approach a hare or a quail with any degree of calmness. You need 

 not fear that woodpecker-shooting will prove poor sport. Some of 

 my happiest bouts in the woods have owed all their charm to the 

 excitement of chasing an ivory-bill, a red-head, or a speckled "sap- 

 sucker" from tree to tree, whacking away at him whenever he got 

 still, watching the flight of my arrow as it whisked past him or struck 

 close by him with a ringing rap like the blow of a hammer, till at last 

 I plumped him over, stringing him half-way down my shaft. 



