TYPES OF SHOOTERS igi 



flee from him at any cost, and even shoot him 

 rather than allow him to shoot you. And it is 

 well to keep an eye on a man who turns up 

 wearing gaiters of a pattern popular with gardeners 

 black gaiters, with an intense natural shininess 

 and knee-cap extension. You may feel comfort- 

 able next to the man who does not shoot to dress, 

 but dresses to shoot; he is as unlikely to shoot 

 you as to fail in his duty toward the bag. Only 

 once do I remember to have been grossly deceived 

 by the outward appearance of a shooter and it was 

 a double-barrelled take-in. The expression of the 

 man's face alone seemed to tell one that he could 

 not shoot. His get-up, though not alarming, was 

 hopelessly impossible. He reminded me of the 

 gaitered gentleman one sees doing a round with 

 a grocer's cart. But, by Jove ! that man could 

 shoot. When not able to see him I could tell 

 where he was by the way the pheasants collapsed. 

 Two birds coming at the same time bang, bang ! 

 and he had them right and left time after time. 

 That was not all : his birds seemed to close their 

 wings, curve their necks toward their crop, turn 

 breast upwards, and come down bump all in the 

 twinkling of an eye. Occasionally there was an 

 extra special bird that would turn along the front 

 of the guns ; there would be a string of shots, till 

 my deceiver's turn came. I still think that shooter 

 must have lost his kit-bag. 



