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above the mark. I will grant that the shooter 

 may have a previous consciousness of this 

 depressed level, arising from apprehensions 

 aforesaid ; and that he may, when visible after 

 the shot, often perceive the bird escaping above 

 the then apparent range of his barrel. But let 

 me awaken his attention. Is not that barrel 

 considerably sunk from what was its direction 

 at the instant of fire ? I am asking this ques- 

 tion, for the purpose of detecting what I believe 

 to be, in yet unregulated hands, a very general 

 source of error; for I do strongly suspect, that 

 a kind of random elevation for the moment, as 

 a substitute for the cool adjustment we have 

 been talking of, takes place with, or rather 

 precedes, the touch of the trigger, and sends 

 off the charge above what should have been its 

 destination. I have only to add, if you ever 

 hope to attain any thing like steady shooting, 

 let every inconsiderate unprincipled dash in the 

 dark, of this nature, be cautiously avoided. 



Upon the precise point of time for the fire, 

 professors of equal celebrity will differ; some 

 preferring the first instant of perfect level ; 

 others again hanging on the flight of a bird 

 for some time, under the supposed notion of a 

 cooler shot. In the cross-shot, or when the 

 diagonal approaches nearly the horizontal line, 



