io2 A SPORTING PARADISE 



of the trigger. Having occupied the leisure 

 moments of a few days in this way, go out into 

 the field and practise shooting small birds on 

 the wing. Get your bird well covered before 

 you pull "the trigger, do not dwell on the object 

 after it is once covered. The eye in a correct 

 light is seldom deceived. 



Be cool and deliberate, sight the gun a little 

 in advance of your bird, you are apt to fire 

 too low. " To cover a bird "is to look along 

 the barrel-plate so that the eye, the sight, the 

 point, and the bird are all in the same line, 

 and this is the moment to fire. If a bird is 

 flying very swiftly, it is not too much to fire a 

 foot or more before the bird. An old sportsman 

 told me, " The practice of shooting with both 

 eyes open is a mere peculiarity acquired by some 

 ready shots, but does not possess a single advan- 

 tage over the old style of closing the left eye." 



General Wade Hampton, who probably 

 killed more black bears than any other living 

 man in the United States, frequently used 

 the knife, slaying thirty or forty with this 

 weapon. His plan was, when he found that the 

 dogs had the bear at bay, to walk up close and 

 cheer them on. They would instantly seize the 



