THE SPORTING WORLD. 143 



his adroitness and firing at a bird in a situa- 

 tion where the common shot would hold it 

 useless in him to make the attempt. The 

 finished artiste sometimes refuses a shot where 

 he thinks it more than probable he should 

 bring his bird down, if he feels it also quite 

 possible he should not. Such shots no doubt 

 frequently kill under disadvantages that would 

 render the thing a hopeless attempt on the part 

 of common shots ; for though difficult it is not 

 so to the crack shot. He feels himself quite 

 sure of his bird under such disadvantages, and 

 he brings it down ; but, as I said before, if 

 he thinks the event uncertain he will not risk a 

 miss. This shews merely a little harmless vanity, 

 and is far better than my acquaintance blazing 

 away at a covey, wounding, probably, three or 

 four, and killing none. It must be generally in the 

 case of a very long shot, or an extremely awk- 

 ward one, that crack shots do not bring down 

 their bird dead. In a shot under favourable 



