284 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



stances we shall be very apt to shoot over them, under them, 

 before them, or behind them. This kind of rapid mental cal- 

 culation, though very bothersome at first, will soon become a 

 kind of intuitive habit by practice, and the gun will be found 

 almost of itself to take the proper direction, seemingly un- 

 guided by any particular will of the Shooter. 



FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. 



Never shoot at Ducks as they are coming towards you ; wait 

 till they are on a line with your person, or till they have passed 

 you, as it is almost impossible for shot to penetrate through the 

 thick plumage of a Duck Avhen presented in this position, but 

 will most inevitably glance off. As the Ducks are approaching, 

 raise your gun, take sight on them, and follow the foremost 

 with the eye and weapon until they come immediately over- 

 head, or rather in a line parallel with your body ; then slide the 

 gun with a quick motion a short distance in front of the fljnng 

 column; being careful, however, to preserve its range directly 

 in their course, and fire without stopping the motion of the arm. 



The distance which the gun is thus thrown before the Ducks 

 depends entirely upon their probable distance from the Shooter, 

 the velocity with which they are flying, and the other points 

 already alluded to above, all of which must be ascertained in 

 a moment of time, when the eye is resting upon the Birds along 

 the barrel of the gun. Three or four feet will nearly always 

 be necessary to insure success in bringing down Canvass-Backs, 

 and sometimes even as much as twenty feet is not too far in 

 advance, if the wind is blowing fresh and the Ducks travelling 

 before it, as they most frequently do. It should always be borne 

 in mind that most Ducks fly with amazing velocity ; and the 

 great error committed by all beginners, and even by experi- 

 enced Shooters, is that they deliver their shot behind the Bird. 

 The range of the siorht should be rather above than below the 

 Ducks, to prevent the pellets from falling too Ioav before reaching 

 their proper destination. The various points on the narrows of 

 Spesutia Island are perhaps the most frequented of all localities 

 in the upper bay for Duck-shooting, and it is seldom that the 

 Sportsman will be disappointed in visiting these grounds, as the 



