450 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



to be going very fast, and seems likely to get out of 

 shot before you can pull the trigger, this apparent 

 swiftness of flight is due partly to the nervousness of 

 the shooter. Where the shooting is open there is al- 

 ways, or almost always, abundant time to point your 

 gun just where you want it. Most of the shots that are 

 missed are due to overeagerness, which means undue 

 haste. The shooter may feel perfectly certain that he 

 will miss his bird unless the gun is pointed very nearly 

 straight at it. The shot spreads over a circle of three 

 or four feet in diameter, and sometimes, even if the 

 gun is not pointed straight at the bird, the edge of the 

 charge of shot will hit it and perhaps knock it down; 

 but this is a chance not worth considering the bird 

 should be hit with the center of the charge. It was, 

 perhaps, Frank Forrester who spoke of "deliberate 

 promptitude," and this deliberate promptitude is one 

 of the secrets of being a successful and a good shot. 

 After all, this merely means coolness and training, the 

 keeping of one's wits about him all the time, and never 

 being disturbed or flustered by any event of the field. 

 Many of the best and most experienced shots never 

 reach the point where they can hear birds get up all 

 about them without quickened heart-beats and jumping 

 nerves, yet many of them never show by their shooting 

 that they are discomposed by the noise. 



It has been my experience, on a number of occasions, 

 to go out with people who had done little or no 1 field 

 shooting, and I have found that a word of caution, the 

 mere warning, 'Take your time," when a bird rose, 



