TAKING AIM. 349 



eye, the eye being kept open the while, so that the 

 shooter may see whether the bird falls, or feathers 

 fall from it, for if he does not see it distinctly at 

 the moment of firing, there is something defective 

 in his system of taking aim. 



The shooter, when learning, should never aim 

 directly at the body of a hare on foot, or of a bird 

 on the wing. This precaution is scarcely necessary 

 when the motion of the object is slow, but by habi- 

 tuating himself to it on all occasions, he will the 

 sooner become an adept. His mark should be the 

 head, the legs, or a wing, if within twenty yards. 

 When further off, he should make some allowance, 

 according to the distance and speed of the object 

 moving. His aim should be at the head of a bird 

 rising or crossing the legs of a bird flushed on an 

 eminence and moving downwards from him the 

 wing of a bird flying from him in an oblique direc- 

 tion. His aim should be at the head of a hare, in 

 whatever way she may be moving. The same 

 rules apply when the object is more than twenty 

 paces distant from the shooter, making allowance 

 for the speed. Thus, for a partridge crossing, the 

 allowance of aim before it with a detonator, at 

 twenty paces, will be one inch at thirty paces two 

 inches at fifty paces five inches at fifty-five paces 

 seven inches. Half this allowance will be proper 

 when the bird moves in an oblique direction. When 

 an object moves directly from the shooter, at more 

 than twenty paces distance, he should fire a little 

 above it. When a bird or hare approaches the 

 shooter directly, he should not aim at it until it 



