COURSING, ETC. 233 



No. 3 patent shot at sixty paces distant, but 

 such shots are very rare ; I have indeed 

 heard some persons say that they have killed 

 partridges and pheasants with the same bar- 

 rel arid shot as mentioned, at from sixty to 

 one hundred and twenty paces ; this I leave 

 to the judgment of the experienced sports- 

 man. 



As the means of attaining the art of shoot- 

 ing flying, many young beginners shoot at 

 swallows ; but I think it a bad method, and 

 that no mode is so advantageous as the actual 

 practice of shooting at the game, whereby 

 that trepidation and alarm which most men 

 feel upon the rising the covey, will sooner 

 be conquered, for while these are possessed, 

 even in the most trifling degree, no one will 

 attain to be a steady and good shot. A fowl- 

 ing-piece should not be fired more than 

 eighteen or twenty times without being wash- 

 ed ; as a barrel, when foul, neither shoots so 

 ready nor carries the shot so far as when 

 clean. The flint, pan, and hammer, should 



X3 



