56 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



he did not kill half a dozen birds from among so many immediately 

 under his nose. 



It is to steel the heart of the novice against this emotion that 

 we wish to impress upon him, in the most forcible manner, the im- 

 portance of coolness and deliberation in all his actions; for rest 

 assured that without these two chief requisites he will never make 

 a good shot, but always be a bungler and a dangerous person to 

 go out with, as he will be sure some time or other to shoot either 

 himself, a friend, or his dog. 



CROSS SHOTS. 



We have in the previous pages been endeavoring to explain 

 more particularly the rules for plain or straight shooting; that 

 is, when a bird is going directly from us, as partridges most gene- 

 rally do when a covey is flushed. We will now speak of the rules 

 for cross shooting. 



Many persons can kill birds with a great deal of certainty 

 when they are flying from them ; but, for want of a little attention 

 to the subject, are constantly at fault when they come to pull upon 

 birds that are either crossing to the right or the left, more 

 particularly the former. The first thing to be observed by the 

 sportsman when considering a "cross shot" is the velocity with 

 which the bird flies, and the distance it is off from him at the 

 moment of firing. These two circumstances must be determined 

 upon in his own mind in a moment of time, as it were, by intui- 

 tion ; for when the game is on the wing there is no opportunity for 

 the exercise of inductive reason to arrive at these points. This 

 faculty of rapid discrimination or rightly judging the distance 

 that the bird is from us, or the velocity with which it is moving 

 through the air, every shooter must soon acquire by practice; 

 otherwise he can never become a superior marksman, but will 

 constantly find himself missing the fairest cross shots. The 

 American partridge, more particularly when frightened, or rather 

 startled by the sportsman, flies with amazing velocity, perhaps 

 swifter and stronger than any other game-bird in the world. The 



