AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



117 



as todistance, by which the gun is to be directed in advance 

 of the bird, its flight varj^ing at times from a greater to a 

 less degree of velocity, as well as distance. In his essay on 

 Duck shooting, he admits the necessity, even within the 

 moderate space of sixty }'ards, of varying the direction of 

 the gun from six inches to three or four feet; and I would 

 ask, if this be the fact, what reliance can be placed on a 

 mode of shooting liable to so much discretionary exercise 

 on the part of the sportsman. In the diagram offered, the 

 data there given, so far from supporting his position, and 

 elucidating the subject, has only made its fallacy the more 

 apparent; for if, as he purposes, it takes one second of 

 time for the passage of the load from the breech to the muz- 

 zle, and one second for a forward velocity of the contents 

 in a hundred yards; two seconds must necessarily elapse 

 before the shot would do execution at that distance; and esti- 

 mating the flight of the duck at eighty-sevenfeetthe second, 

 itfoUows that it would require a direction of the gun twice 

 eighty-seven feet, or one hundred and seventy-four feet in 

 advance, in order to overcome the rapidity of its flight; or 

 take any proportion of the above time, and, according to his 

 own expression, " the result is the same." This latitude, 

 we should think, would stagger the faith of the oldest Duck 

 shooter, and even I. T. S. must acknowledge his theory to 

 be, however philosophically correct, practically unsound 

 and defective. 



In this country, where, from the abundance of game, 

 and the forbearance of restraint in its pursuit, the science of 

 shooting, more than in any other, has been brought to its 

 greatest perfection, the principle advanced by me is acted 

 upon by the most skilful and pi'actised shots, and its cor- 

 rectness has been tested upon all game; for, let the bird fly 

 fast or slow — with therapidity of a duck, or the sluggishness 

 of a rail — the sportsman who is governed by it, is satisfied 

 that its truth can be relied on in every instance. If your 

 correspondent would but reflect for a moment on the laws 

 of motion, (and it is only on these, if I understand rightly, 

 the argument rests, laying aside the opposing properties of 

 air and gravitation,) I think he would at once abandon his 

 theory of shooting; for it must be evident to the conside- 

 rate m.ind that the same laws will apply to the projectile 

 force of a gun, as to any other object. It is a law of motion 

 that, if a stone be thrown perpendicularly into the air, it 

 will fall upon the very spot from whence it was sent; or a 

 rifle firml}^ fixed, so as to project a ball in the same perpen- 

 dicular manner into the air, would, on the descent of the 

 ball again, receive it back to its original starting-place. 

 Now it is evident, from the earth's motion, that the projec- 

 tile body must receive a corresponding impulse, otherwise 

 this rule could not be correct. It is computed that the mo- 

 tion of the earth's surface is at the rate of 950 feet in a 



second; and if a stone were projected to such an height as to 

 take but one second for its ascent and descent, it must follow 

 that, (unless governed by this impulse,) when it reached the 

 ground, it would do so at a distance of 950 feet west of the 

 spot from whence it was thrown. This effect, we are con- 

 vinced, cannot take place. The experience of every one 

 demonstrates to the contrary; for the motion of the earth is 

 communicated to thestone, in common with all other things 

 upon its surface. Again, if a ball be dropped from the top 

 of the mast of a vessel, under rapid sail, it will not fall into 

 the sea behind the vessel, as might be suspected, but will 

 arrive on the deck, at the foot of the mast. Also, a per- 

 son on horseback, riding at a fleetness of a mile in two 

 minutes, would, by throwing an object perpendicularly into 

 the air, receive it back into his hand again. Now, asthemo- 

 tion of the earth is to the stone — the vessel to the ball — the 

 fleetness of thehorse to the object thrown up by the rider — so 

 exactlyistheswingof the gun,tothecontentsprojected from 

 it, at an objectina direct line. To depart from this S3'stem of 

 reasoning, all philosophy is confounded, and rendered use- 

 less, without any other guide than chance or misapprehen- 

 sion. Upon this principle, aim might be directed on a bird, 

 which, if possible, would describe a complete circle around 

 you, and the gun hold her fire from the commencement 

 until the bird had completed its flight, and on the discharge 

 would strike the object, because, acting upon thisprinciple, 

 which governs nature in her movements, the projected body 

 cannot be diverted from the line of aim, having partaken of 

 the motion, as before mentioned. Persons may argue about 

 allowances before the object; but it certainly does not look 

 like either practice or science in him who upholds the 

 theory; and a man may act strictl}' scientifically, or accord- 

 ingto the laws before mentioned in shooting, (which, in fact, 

 as before stated, is the case with all of the best shots,) which 

 practice teaches him is correct, without being able to des- 

 cribe those laws that govern him in this practice; and a 

 person may, also, by much experience, be enabled to shoot 

 with a degree of certainty, on the principle advocated by 

 your correspondent I. T. S. : but rules having their foun- 

 dation in error, can neither be depended on in the many 

 contingencies of shooting, or recommended to those who 

 wish to embrace this enchanting science as a recreative 

 pleasure. 



I will merely say a word or two in relation to the 

 " striking of shot," and I am done. I agree with I. T. 

 S. as to the fact of shot being heard to strike. This 

 position I have never denied— it is only against the effi- 

 cacy of shot, when tlius heard, that I contend. In the 

 discharge of the contents of a gun, the proportion of 

 shot which take effect on an object at a distance of thirty 

 yards, to those that glance ofl', or are diverted from the 



