56 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



their speed ; and if they attain a distance of thirty, forty, or 

 fifty paces before we succeed in fairly covering the line of their 

 flight, it will be necessary to sight the gun at least three to six 

 inches before them ; and if the distance be greater, say sixty or 

 seventy paces, double that space must be given. If the Birds 

 are very large and strong — which, by the by, most generally is 

 the case in November and December — it will be necessary to 

 allow even a greater distance than ten inches between the Bird 

 and the point of sight, and then perhaps we shall not unfre- 

 quently have the mortification of seeing the Bird move off un- 

 hurt save the loss of the tail feathers. If the 'course of the 

 Bird should be oblique, as is often the case, the same rules for 

 shooting will apply, save that the point of aim should be about 

 half the distance in advance of the Bird, as if it were flying 

 directly across. There is another point in cross shooting which 

 we must not forget to impress upon the attention of our read- 

 ers, otherwise all our previous remarks on the subject will 

 prove nugatory and go for nothing. What we refer to is the 

 absolute necessity of accustoming the hand and eye to keep up 

 the lateral motion imparted to the gun when sighting it on the 

 object till after the piece is discharged. If attention be not 

 paid to this point, and at the moment of pulling the trigger the 

 gun is arrested in its onward progress, the whole load will most 

 inevitably pass behind the Bird; as the time intervening be- 

 tween the pulling of the trigger and the passage of the shot 

 through the air to the intended victim is quite sufiicient to allow 

 of its getting beyond the point of sight first caught at by the 

 eye. 



The distance intervening between the Bird and the point of 

 sight is the space granted the Bird for flying through the air, 

 during the passage of the shot from the muzzle of the gun to 

 the point of sight, and not for the pulling of the trigger, igni- 

 tion of the powder, and the escape of the load from the barrel. 

 All this, to be sure, appears only to be a momentary, if not an 

 instantaneous afiair; but such is not the fact, as every Shooter 

 can testif}'- to; for it is a self evident fact that some time must 

 elapse between the accomplishment of these two acts, the jiull- 

 ing of the trigger and the escape of the charge from the gun. This 



