SHOOTING ON THE WING. 99 



of excellency that their ordinary performances seemed marvellous 

 even to the German Jagers, who have always been esteemed the 

 very best marksmen of the Old World. Killing with a single ball 

 squirrels from the tops of the highest trees, as well as cutting off 

 the head of a wild turkey or other large bird at the distance of 

 one hundred yards or more when in full flight, was a common feat 

 with these hardy huntsmen. In fact, so expert were the keel-boat- 

 men of the Mississippi in handling the rifle, that they did not 

 hesitate, in a spirit of playfulness, even at a long distance, to cut 

 the pipe out of the hat-band of a companion, or unexpectedly 

 upset a cup of whiskey that might at lunch-time be for the moment 

 resting on some one's knee. Driving the nail at forty paces, 

 snuffing the candle at fifty, and shooting an apple or other small 

 objects from the heads of each other, were the favorite amuse- 

 ments of these daring marksmen.* 



It is also not an uncommon circumstance to meet with persons 

 who can lay a double-barrelled gun, cocked, on the ground, throw 

 two pennies up in the air and strike them both; before touching 

 the ground. This same degree of nicety in handling the gun and 

 perfecting the eye may be acquired in pigeon-shooting, as wit- 

 nessed in the wonderful exploits laid down under this head by 

 numerous English authors, and as detailed from time to time of 

 our own shooters in the columns of the Spirit of the Times. But 

 all these various kinds of shooting, though exhibiting much skill 

 and perfection in the art, will not qualify a person for taking the 

 field with an experienced sportsman; as the killing of game is 

 quite a different thing from knocking over the tame, quiet, and 

 phlegmatic house-pigeon, that, rising from the trap with a certain 

 degree of regularity, although with a sudden impetus imparted to 

 it by the operations of the spring, and most frequently taking a 

 bewildered though easy flight, is brought down with the greatest 

 facility by those accustomed to its usual course of action at such 

 times. 



* See Thorpe's Remembrances of the Mississippi. 



