110 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 
Whoever takes advantage of this hint to slay swallows, 
starlings, or other insectivorous birds, must also take 
the responsibility ; I onlysuggest this where there are, 
as in many agricultural districts, very large quantities 
of grain-eating birds. 
The first-rate performer is always a safe man to 
shoot with. Pages of good advice have been written 
on this head, and by the best authorities. I will only 
add one thing: bear in mind that you are more likely 
to shoot the man two or three places off than the man 
next you. Let your mind while you are out shooting 
be always studying and comparing distances and 
angles, a perfect judgment of which is an invariable 
attribute of a gunner of the first quality. I have been 
fortunate enough to shoot sometimes for weeks to- 
gether without ever hearing the rattle of a shot near 
me, or seeing a gun even pointed for a moment in a 
dangerous direction. 
‘I am a great believer in style; I never saw a 
good shot yet who hadn’t style,’ said Mr. Purdey 
to me one day ; and I quite agree with him. Mr. 
Purdey’s recollections of the great shots of the last 
generation as well as of the present are varied and 
interesting. 
Now, what is it that makes up ‘style,’ that indefin- 
able, but invariable, attribute of a first-rate man? I 
