COVERT-SHOOTING 293 



The results of these tests were first re- 

 corded in the columns of the Field, and 

 have lately been reproduced in book form. 1 

 The reasonable deductions to be drawn 

 from the figures of these target -tests 

 have a real interest to all those who ever 

 try conclusions with the high pheasant, 

 and may be briefly summarized here, for 

 they are by no means at one with the 

 commonly accepted notions on the subject. 

 It would seem that a pheasant 40 

 yards up in the air is out of range, so 

 far as any certainty in result is concerned. 

 Sir Ralph calculates that at this height 

 only one in six correctly timed shots 

 would bring the bird to the ground, 

 whether by a fatal wound or only by 

 chance pellet in the head stunning the 

 pheasant, in which case death usually 

 follows from the shock of the fall. The 

 examination of twenty birds apparently 

 killed clean by the shot at about this 

 height, showed that they were struck by 



1 High Pheasants in Theory and Practice, by Sir Ralph 

 Payne-Gallwey, Bart., 1913. 



