OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE RIFLE IS USED. 93 



better than a punt propelled by a paddle, which necessarily 

 makes some slight noise, however carefully it may be used. 

 Besides which, they have generally been accustomed to see 

 sails without being injured by them, whereas the punt is 

 never without its sting. The various modes of carrying out 

 the shooting of wildfowl by means of the punt and punt- 

 gun must, however, be studied in the pages of nature, with 

 the assistance of Colonel Hawker as far as theory can be 

 made available. 



CHAPTER VI. 

 EIFLE SHOOTING. 



OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE RIFLE IS USED TARGET SHOOTING ROOK 



SHOOTING RABBIT SHOOTING DEER STALKING. 



OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE RIFLE IS USED. 



THERE are two general purposes to which the rifle is adapted, 

 the more important being the destruction of man by his 

 fellows in war, while the subsidiary one is for amusement, 

 either by means of target shooting, deer stalking, rook, or 

 rabbit shooting. Where game is sought for in order to sup- 

 port life, as in the backwoods of America, the rifle comes 

 into play as a necessary, but in this country it can scarcely 

 ever be adopted excepting for purposes of sport or war; and 

 as this book does not profess to treat of the latter, the limits 

 of the tool are readily assigned. There is a great difference 

 between the military rifle and that intended for sporting 

 purposes, chiefly depending upon the range, which in the 

 former must be as extensive as possible, while in the latter 

 it is rarely required to extend beyond two or three hundred 

 yards, and, indeed, few sporting rifles are sighted beyond this. 

 For our island purposes a small ball is sufficient, but in 

 India and Africa, where the elephant or the lion must be 

 despatched by a crashing and immediately fatal injury to the 

 brain or some other vital organ, nothing less than two or 

 three ounces of lead is thought sufficient. Again, in the 



