222 THE SHOOTER'S GUIDE. 



at the distance of thirty yards for instance, by which 

 it will be perceived whether the piece has a tendency 

 to throw the shot too wide, beneath the object, or 

 otherwise. The proportions of the charges may also 

 be varied (for which see the head Proportions of 

 Powder and Shot in the Charge). Most guns, I be- 

 lieve, require to be levelled a trifle above the object, 

 and if the juvenile shooter finds, when in the field, 

 that the shot is generally thrown beneath the bird, I 

 would advise him to try the elevated breech. But as 

 this invention has been spoken of more at large un- 

 der its proper head, I therefore refer the reader to it 

 accordingly. 



I shall close this subject by again impressing on 

 the mind of the reader the necessity of coolness and 

 deliberation. Whenever a covey rises, let the sports- 

 man coolly, or indeed almost carelessly, select one 

 particular bird, and, observing the rules before laid 

 down, according to the flight of the bird, &c., let him 

 look very deliberately down the barrel, and the in- 

 stant he finds the piece properly levelled, pull the 

 trigger. 



I shall now proceed to other remarks which obvi- 

 ously present themselves : they may not perhaps be 

 quite so interesting to the juvenile shooter as the pre- 

 ceding, yet they are equally or even more necessary. 



There are many sportsmen, who, on levelling their 

 fowling-piece, place their left hand* close to the trig- 



* I am supposing a person to shoot from the right shoulder. 



