232 OF SHOOTING, 



proportion to its distance at the time of fir- 

 ing. The same rule will nearly hold in the 

 case of shooting hares, partridges, pheasants, 

 quails, woodcocks, snipes, or even wild- 

 ducks : when a hare runs in a straight line 

 from the shooter, he should take his aim 

 along the back to her ears, otherwise he will 

 run the hazard either of missing, or at least 

 of not killing her. Practice soon teaches 

 the sportsman the proper distance at which 

 he should shoot, and would infallibly kill any 

 kind of game, with patent shot No. 3 ; pro- 

 vided the aim be well taken from twenty- 

 five to thirty-five paces for the footed, and 

 from thirty-five to forty-five and fifty paces 

 for the winged game ; beyond this distance, 

 even to fifty- five paces, partridges, pheasants, 

 and hares, are sometimes killed, but in ge- 

 neral the hares are slightly w r ounded and 

 carry away the shot ; and partridges, at that 

 distance, present so small a surface that they 

 frequently escape untouched between the 

 vacant spaces of the circle ; yet it does not 

 follow that partridges may not be killed with 



