SHOOTING ON THE WING. 59 



feathers of the breast. When a bird is flying towards you or over 

 your head, you will be very apt to miss it : the better plan is to 

 wait till it has passed, and then turn and take a fair shot at it. 

 If, however, you prefer shooting as the bird advances towards you, 

 aim for the head, or rather the bill, when he has arrived at a fair 

 shooting distance. If coming very swiftly, as they most generally 

 do when frightened, it will not be too much to aim even a foot 

 or more before the bird. When shooting at long distances, be 

 careful to hold the gun full high ; as shot, after going a certain 

 distance, has, as a matter of course, a downward tendency. The 

 most common fault committed by sportsmen generally is the too 

 frequent habit of shooting under their game ; and we are satisfied 

 from repeated observation that where one bird is missed by shoot- 

 ing too liigli, ten are missed by shooting too low. When, however, 

 the game is flushed on the side of a hill and takes a downward 

 course, the point of aim should then be at the feet, or the load 

 will pass over the object, as it must be recollected that the bird is 

 now descending quite the opposite of its usual habit. To ob- 

 viate the inconvenience arising from the smoke of the first barrel, 

 or, in other words, to prevent the smoke of the first barrel 

 interfering with the shooting or sighting of the second barrel, 

 more particularly when a covey rises, we would advise our readers 

 to get as many cross shots as possible. This can be done by 

 either heading the dogs or by flushing the birds from the side, and 

 not going directly on the game from the dogs, which practice, by- 

 the-by, most generally is bad. 



COVERT SHOOTING. 



In covert shooting the same rules are applicable as we have 

 already laid down for open shooting ; the only difference is, that 

 we must be more fully on the qui vive to take advantage of all 

 and every chance, as we often see the bird for a moment only, 

 and then it is lost to our sight among the trees or thick under- 

 wood; and, as before remarked, we constantly kill birds in thick 

 coppices without ever seeing them at all. 



