352 SHOOTING. 



would be too complex an operation, for before it 

 could be performed, a swift bird would be out of 

 reach ; it follows, then, that the shooter's attention 

 should be directed only to the sight at the top of 

 the barrel; and the breech end should come up 

 mechanically to the proper level. 



If the sportsman will take aim alternately at ob- 

 jects on his right, on his left, on the ground, and 

 in the air, without moving his body or taking his 

 gun from the shoulder, he will at once see the diffi- 

 culty of keeping his eye directly behind the breech. 

 To be a proficient in shooting, he must in some way 

 be able to do that mechanically ; for, when aiming 

 at a moving object, his attention can only be paid 

 to placing the end of the gun on that object. When 

 bringing up a gun to the shoulder in a gunmakers 

 shop, it is easy to bend the head down to the exact 

 spot for looking along the sight-plate ; but it is 

 very different when shooting at birds on the wing. 

 The best way to prove whether a stock suits, or in 

 other words, whether the user of it can bring it up, 

 as it were mechanically and without an effort, to 

 the proper place, is to fire hastily, on a dark night, 

 at a lighted candle placed against a wall, at about 

 forty paces distance. 



When a person is nervous, or afraid of the recoil, 

 he naturally raises his head, and consequently shoots 

 above the mark ; on firing, he unconsciously throws 

 his head back, and then seeing the bird above the 

 end of the gun, he fancies he shot under it, when 

 the reverse is the fact. We may also observe, that 

 if the shooter does not keep his head down to the 



