BOB-WHITE 119 



but more are often wounded. Remember, therefore, 

 to shoot at a single bird, and aim well forward and 

 high. Of course, if the covey be flushed on a hill-side, 

 and the birds fly down, the aim should be well under 

 instead of over them. Beginners shoot under and 

 behind the birds. Mayer says : *'The velocity of an 

 ounce of No. 8 shot, driven with three drams of pow. 

 der, is near to nine hundred feet per second. In that 

 second a Bob-white, if under full headway, will go 

 eighty-eight feet, if we estimate the velocity of his 

 flight so low only as a mile a minute. If he is flying 

 directly across your line of sight and thirty yards off, 

 the shot will take one-tenth of a second to reach that 

 distance, and in one-tenth of a second the bird has 

 gone over eight and eight-tenths feet.'* It is a most 

 difficult point for a beginner, and he continues to miss 

 until he can bring himself to shoot well ahead of cross- 

 flying shots and well over rising birds. In shooting at 

 ducks when several are flying in a line, one behind the 

 other, he will be surprised to see a bird far behind the 

 one he shot at fall dead. The reader will find exam- 

 ples of this in the chapters on the water-fowl. Par- 

 tridges require hard hitting to bring them down. It 

 is therefore all-important that the aim be true. As for 

 the shot. No. 9 will do early in the season, but a little 

 later No. 8 will be found more effective. 



Two sportsmen are the proper number in partridge 

 shooting. If there are more in the party they should 

 take separate beats. I shot many seasons with a friend 

 in Northern Ohio and we were often joined by local 

 sportsmen who knew the grounds, but we always 

 divided up, coming together at the noon hour to dis- 



