70 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



from a position pointing much behind the bird, so that the 

 swing occurs as the gun is going home to the shoulder, and it 

 is not checked when the trigger is pulled, simply because no 

 swing can be checked instantly. By this method of finding the 

 place and shooting at it, the author can manage rabbits jumping 

 across rides that is, when he manages to kill them at all ; but 

 he prefers to handle winged game by the slower and surer 

 method, which, however, he would abandon for the better 

 style if he could. But the ability to be quick in this better style 

 is not his for a permanency, it only comes sometimes, when 

 there is not time to take game with a conscious swing of 

 the gun. The late Mr. A. Stuart Wortley, who was one of the 

 best game-driving shots of his time, has told us in one of his 

 books that he could not hit anything until he started to shut 

 one eye and align. Later, he thought first aiming at a bird, 

 and then swinging forward of it, was slow, and making two 

 operations of one. Lord Walsingham has assented to a 

 description of shooting in which the " racing " of the bird with 

 the gun was the principal feature, and Lord de Grey has been 

 watched to put his gun up, try to get on, and, failing, take it 

 down without shooting ; all of which tends to show that align- 

 ment and swing are the two necessary factors in shooting, not 

 necessarily alignment of the game, but generally of a moving 

 point at the end of a space in front of the game. Mr. F. E. R. 

 Fryer is very clear about the advantages of swing, and also 

 allowance in front. As he is as quick a shot as ever was 

 deliberate, and more deadly than those in a hurry, there can 

 be no better proof that swing itself is not necessarily accom- 

 panied by any delay. But there are two or more kinds of 

 swing, and it does not necessarily mean what Mr. Stuart 

 Wortley implied. It is not always, or often possibly, a jerk 

 after getting on the game, neither is it a following round of 

 the game, but in its best form it is probably mostly done before 

 the gun touches the shoulder, and is not stopped by contact 

 with the shoulder, or by pulling the trigger. It is not sup- 

 posed that those who can sometimes bring off this ideal style 

 which, in intention, is finding the right place in front of the 



