ROOK AND PIGEON SHOOTING, ETC. 



stock, he will probably draw it aside, so that his 

 aim will be as if taken from one of the hammers, 

 which \vould, of course, throw the charge as much 

 on one side of the mark, as raising the head would 

 above it. 



The main point, then, in taking aim, is to keep 

 the head down to the stock, and the eye low behind the 

 breech. The sportsman who, from habit or practice, 

 can invariably bring his eye down to the same place, 

 and keep it steadily there, so that he may always 

 take aim from the same starting-point, will distance 

 all competitors. 



ROOK AND PIGEON SHOOTING, ETC. 



The Rook. We commence our notice of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of shooting with the fowling-piece now 

 chiefly practised, with a few observations on those 

 birds, not coming under the denomination of game, 

 which occasionally afford the first lessons to the 

 younger brethren of the trigger, and which there- 

 fore may properly take precedence, in description of 

 the more difficult branches of the art. 



Young rooks, in the month of May, are gener- 

 ally shot whilst sitting on the branches, near their 

 nests, on the tops of the loftiest trees, so that it 

 requires a steady aim, and hard-stricken shot to 

 bring them down with certainty. Very large shot 

 is best, for the momentum of it at once throws 

 the rook off its balance. Rooks wounded with 

 small shot will frequently cling to the bough with 

 their claws, and die suspended in that manner. 



