350 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



conditions have varied from time to time so much that nobody 

 can say with any certainty who were the best pigeon shots or 

 at what period they lived. Probably Horatio Ross got out of 

 a gun as great a proportion of its accuracy and power as any 

 man who ever lived, and although the numbers of gunners who 

 can shoot driven game well has greatly increased, the number 

 who can shoot pigeons even moderately well has very much 

 declined in England. Our countrymen now lose the Grand 

 Prix de Monte Carlo with nearly as great certainty as formerly 

 they won it This does not appear to be because the com- 

 petition is more severe than it was, for the author knows some 

 winners of the Grand Prix whom he could not call first-rate shots. 

 One of the writer's first pigeon shooting matches was at a 

 private house party at Vaynol Park. His experience there 

 serves to illustrate the differences between good blue rocks 

 and what are usually called " owls " ; this term means any 

 bird either bigger or with more white in it than a blue rock 

 has, also it serves to show that an occasional " owl " is a good 

 test of ready marksmanship. The writer had won a single 

 stake, and only required one more bird out of the double rise 

 stake to win that too. It was getting dusk, and the birds had 

 been very smart. When the traps fell, two white ones came 

 out and circled round to right and left as slowly as they could. 

 Of course the shooter thought it an obviously soft thing to 

 get them both ; but " certainties " in shooting have a way of 

 following the example of racing precedents. He missed both 

 quite easily, and had to pay instead of to receive except in 

 "chaff." 



It might be thought that something should be said on the 

 ethics of pigeon shooting, since the exigencies of polo have 

 abolished it at Hurlingham, and the screeching brigade have 

 rendered this as a moral victory in the press. 



The author has bred pigeons in Lincolnshire dovecotes for 

 this sport, and is not a bit ashamed of the fact. Moreover, as 

 Edward vii. was at that time shooting them, the company is 

 good enough. 



