THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 287 



and all the imitators who have followed him have in 

 all their public exhibitions been careful to shoot at no 

 pigeons or other birds on the wing, to shoot at no balls 

 tossed across the line of fire or at any angle to it, and to 

 shoot at nothing in motion when at any distance 

 where it would require the most ordinary amount of 

 skill to hit the same object if at rest. 



In order to understand clearly let us consider skill 

 as of three degrees: 



ist. That skill necessary to hit a three-inch ball at 

 rest at ten paces, offhand with open sights. 



2d. That skill necessary to hit at forty paces. 



3d. That skill necessary to hit at seventy paces. 



The first is the very lowest skill necessary for rifle- 

 shooting. This may be cultivated in a single day by 

 any person male or female of over ten years old, and 

 many a boy of eight or nine can hit balls at rest all 

 day at that distance upon the first trial. With a little 

 practice the ball may be hit at ten paces by almost 

 any one without any sights upon the rifle, and with a 

 little more practice without even raising the rifle to 

 the shoulder. But every one who has ever shot at game 

 with the rifle will readily admit that this degree of 

 skill is absolutely worthless in the field. This degree 

 of skill is attainable by mere sense of direction aided 

 by practice. A baseball pitcher with his ball, a team- 

 ster with his whip, a boy with the " nigger-shooter" 

 or blow-gun can soon learn to hit such a mark nearly 

 every time. 



The second degreee of skill, or hitting a three-inch 

 mark at forty paces, used to be very ordinary in the 

 days of muzzle-loaders. Since the breech-loader has 

 so generally come into fashion it has, for reasons 

 we shall point out hereafter, become a very respect- 



