128 How I Became a Sportsmax. 



have pulled the trigger. It is but an infini- 

 tesimal portion of time between the pressing of 

 the trigger by your finger and the time when 

 the shot leaves the muzzle of the gun ; still it 

 is sufficient^ if the bird has moved its self 

 upwards, and you have moved the muzzle of 

 the gun down, even slightly, by the time the 

 shot reaches the bird that distance is suffici- 

 ently increased to account for the difference 

 between killing your birds clean or wounding 

 them. Hold on then, I say (you had better 

 overdo it than underdo it), for a moment, and 

 not let your gun drop, or attempt to take it too 

 (juickly from your shoulder after pulling the 

 trigger in order to see what has become of the 

 bird, and you will generally find him as dead 

 as a herring. 



By following this maxim I soon found the 

 difference, and learnt to kill my birds clean and 

 well. Of course very few men can do so always, 

 but as a rule they will be successful. And what 

 a pleasure it is in shooting, instead of having to 

 run after a small bird in perhaps high turnips, 

 or rough feg or fern. It discomposes your 

 nerves, ruffles your temper, and is undignified, 

 to say the least of it. 



