76 



John James Audubon. 



proved so expert and cool, as to make 

 choice of the eye of a foe at a wonderful 

 distance, boasting beforehand of the sure- 

 ness of their aim, which has afterward been 

 fully proved when the enemy's head has 

 been examined. 



" Some individuals who conceive them- 

 selves expert in the management of the 

 gun are often seen to meet for the purpose 

 of displaying their skill, and betting a 

 trifling sum, put up a target, in the center 

 of which a common-sized nail is hammered 

 for about two-thirds of its length. The 

 marksmen make choice of what they con- 

 sider a proper distance, which maybe forty 

 paces. Each man cleans the interior of his 

 tube, which is called wiping it, places a ball 

 in the palm of his hand, pouring as much 

 powder from his horn upon it as will cover 

 it. This quantity is supposed to be suffi- 

 cient for any distance within a hundred 

 yards. A shot which comes very close to 

 the nail is considered as that of an indiffer- 

 ent marksman; the bending of the nail is, 

 of course, somewhat better; but nothing 

 less than hitting it right on the head is 

 satisfactory. Well, kind reader, one out of 

 three shots generally hits the nail, and 

 should the shooters amount to half a dozen, 

 two nails are frequently needed before each 

 can have a shot. Those who drive the nail 

 have a further trial amongst themselves, 

 and the two best shots out of these gener- 

 ally settle the affair, when all the sportsmen 

 adjourn to some house, and spend an hour 

 or two in friendly intercourse, appointing 

 before they part, a day for another trial. 

 This is technically termed Driving the 

 Naiir 



Another style of rifle shooting is termed 

 barking off .squirrels. It requires great 

 skill, and Audubon was fortunate in seeing 

 it practiced first by Daniel Boone, the 

 pioneer settler and Indian fighter of early 

 Kentucky days. He says: 



" We walked out together and followed 

 the rocky margin of the Kentucky River, 



until we reached a piece of flat land thickly 

 covered with black walnuts, oaks and 

 hickories. As the general mast was a good 

 one that year, squirrels were seen gambol- 

 ling on every tree around us. My com- 

 panion, a stout, hale, athletic man, dressed 

 in a homespun hunting shirt, bare-legged 

 and moccasined, carried a long heavy rifle, 

 which, as he was loading it, he said had 

 proved efficient in all his former under- 

 takings, and which he hoped would not 

 fail on this occasion, as he felt proud to 

 show me his skill. The gun was wiped, the 

 powder measured, the ball patched with 

 six-hundred-thread linen, and the charge 

 sent home with a hickory rod. We moved 

 not a step from the place, for the squirrels 

 were so numerous that it was unnecessary 

 to go after them. Boone pointed to one of 

 these animals, which had observed us, and 

 was crouched on a branch about fifty paces 

 distant, and bade me mark well the spot 

 where the ball should hit. He raised his 

 piece gradually, until the bead (that being 

 the name given by the Kentuckians to the 

 sight) of the barrel was brought to a line 

 with the spot which he intended to hit. 

 The whip-like report resounded through 

 the woods and along the hills in repeated 

 echoes. Judge of my surprise when I per- 

 ceived that the ball had hit the piece of the 

 bark immediately beneath the squirrel, and 

 shivered it into splinters, the concussion 

 produced by which had killed the animal, 

 and sent it whirling through the air, as if 

 it had been blown up by the explosion of a , 

 powder magazine." I 



This method of shooting squirrels is still 

 practiced in Kentucky and Ohio. Perhaps 

 the most difficult of any of these exhibitions 

 of skill is what is termed "snuffing the 

 candle." Of this Audubon says: 



"The snuffing of a candle v^'ith a ball I 

 first had an opportunity of seeing near the 

 banks of (ireen River, not far from a large 

 pigeon roost, to which I had previously 

 made a visit. I heard many reports qI 



