SHOOTING ON THE WING. 55 



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 another 

 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 

 generally do when a covey is flushed ; we Avill 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 atten- 

 tion 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 velo- 

 city 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 intuition; 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 su- 

 perior 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 ordinary flight of the English 

 Partridge is nothing to compare to it in point of speed — we 

 mean of course a full-grown December Bird. This being the 

 fact, there is no doubt that our Bird requires much more calcu- 

 lation and precision to bring it down when crossing. 



When flushed, Partridges, except in sections of the country 

 where they are seldom or never hunted, boom off at the top of 



