8 VARIETIES OP SHOOTING. 



duced by getting rid of the small cannon which were for- 

 merly in vogue, and substituting the ordinary sportsman's 

 double-barrelled gun, with occasionally two birds to be shot 

 at " right and left." Greater quickness than before even is 

 consequently required in shooting; for not only has the 

 shooter to take his first bird as soon as he can, but he has 

 also to consider his second. The sport may now constitute 

 pretty good practice preparatory to game-shooting ; but it 

 has the objection that it encourages quick shooting too 

 much, and in the early part of the season it tends to lead 

 the young sportsman astray. Still it gives considerable 

 command over the second barrel, and, though a good pigeon 

 shot may not be equally clever at grouse or partridges, he 

 will assuredly be better after this practice than he was 

 before. Sparrows are thought by some to be more useful 

 than pigeons in teaching shooting ; but the distance within 

 which No. 7 or 8 will kill them with certainty is not more 

 than thirty-five yards, and thus over-rapidity is still more 

 likely to be acquired than in pigeon shooting. 



LAWS OF PIGEON TRAP-SHOOTING. 



Tlie following rules are those usually adopted in the 

 present day, but they are not received as generally binding; 

 and in any conditions for a match or sweepstakes the rules 

 by which the shooting is to be regulated should be distinctly 

 specified : 



1. Two referees and an umpire to be chosen, whose 

 decision shall be final. 



2. A boundary to the shooting-ground must be provided, 

 if not already in existence. It should be, if possible, a 

 boarded fence or a wall, and situated at from eighty to one 

 hundred yards from the traps. These should be placed at 

 twenty-one to twenty-five yards from the shooter; and if 

 five in number, in a curve before him, each being equi- 

 distant from the mark, and from five to six yards apart. 

 In the conditions the number of traps should be specified, 

 and whether they are to be pulled at discretion or by 

 tossing ; in the latter case, called H and T traps. A bird 

 killed according to the conditions is scored "a fair bird;" if 



