220 THE SHOOTER'S GUIDE. 



if the shot strikes them on the hind parts (supposing 

 none of their legs are broken) ten to one but the hare 

 goes out of your sight as swift as the wind, even 

 though mortally wounded. She will run, in the latter 

 situation, until she is quite exhausted she then lies 

 down and dies. It occasionally happens that sports- 

 men thus find them ; but, in general, the distance is 

 so great which the hare runs, that little chance re- 

 mains of rinding her. I have more than once seen a 

 hare fall (on being shot at), but at the moment the 

 sportsman was about to put forth his hand and take 

 her, she has sprung up, and darted away. 



A bird that rises and flies in a straight line from 

 the sportsman is justly regarded as the easiest to be 

 killed. When one flies horizontally to the right, it 

 has been supposed a more difficult shot than one fly- 

 ing thus to the left. If game rise and fly in your face, 

 as it were, or over your head, it will be found very 

 difficult to kill; and the best method, in this case, 

 will be to suffer the bird to fly past you, before you 

 attempt to take aim. 



It will be proper to observe in this place, that the 

 wind is a matter of considerable importance. If it 

 should be brisk, it will be apt, in some measure, to 

 bend the course of the shot : should the bird there- 

 fore fly against the wind in a straight direction, it will 

 be necessary to aim a trifle above the object, as the 

 force of the wind will be liable to make the shot de- 

 cline. Supposing it a cross-shot against the wind, it 

 will be advisable to level considerably before the ob- 



