276 SUGGESTIONS TO SPORTSMEN. 



Now, the author cannot shoot, and never could ; 

 but he manages to bring home as many quail, wood 

 cock, snipe, rail, ruffed grouse, and ducks, on the 

 average, as any of his friends. He observes that 

 most of them miss as often as he does, with no bet- 

 ter excuses, and some far oftener ; but still he never, 

 to the best of his belief, saw the season during which 

 he killed that is, bagged one-half of the birds he 

 shot at. Some professionals, of course, shoot at one 

 kind of game wonderfully; the gunners of Long 

 Island Bay are astoundingly accurate on wild-fowl, 

 but would not kill one quail in a week ; while some 

 men who could scarcely touch a duck, handle their 

 guns splendidly in the thickest cover. Professionals, 

 however, usually yield the best chances to their em- 

 ployers, and may be more skilful than they seem ; 

 but among amateurs the author claims a rank that 

 will at least entitle him to judge of others. 



The majority of persons rarely consider how many 

 birds escape, without the fault of the marksman; at 

 over thirty yards the best gun, especially when a 

 little dirty, will leave openings in the charge where 

 a bird may be hit with only one shot, if at all. 

 Ducks, the larger bay-snipe, ruffed grouse, and, 

 above all, quail late in the season, will carry off 

 several shots flying away apparently unhurt, al- 

 though in the end they may fall dead. If the gun 

 was held perfectly straight this would happen less fre- 

 quently ; but to so hold it is almost impossible, for no 

 living man could kill, once in a dozen times, a flying 

 bird with a single ball ; and even then the probabi- 



