185 



arms ; but loosening a little the grasp of your 

 left hand, turn the cock downwards, and let the 

 barrel come down more in slope over your left 

 shoulder. It is during this combined action of 

 throwing the but from you, and turning the cock 

 downwards, that the act of cocking will most 

 readily be performed. The cock to continue 

 secured by the thumb over it, and quitted only 

 as you proceed to the next motion. In the act 

 of cocking, let your fore-finger quit the front of 

 the trigger, and extending itself sloping forward 

 through the guard, only feel the side of it with 

 gentle pressure." Your body, by this action of 

 throwing out the but, combined with the step- 

 out of the left leg in taking form, will be brought 

 with its weight principally upon that limb ; a 

 position assumed as more immediately called 

 for, when the flight is nearly in a line from you, 

 or to the left; which will comprise four out of 

 five of all your shots. Where the flight is to 

 the right, the necessity of a varied position will 

 be explained hereafter. 



PRESENT ! " Let the barrel, as at this 

 moment, inclined over the left shoulder, be 

 swept in a circle forwards with a smart motion, 

 the fore-finger of the right hand (sloping, as we 

 have before placed it, through the guard, and 

 clear of the front of the trigger) being, as it 



