282 SUGGESTIONS TO SPORTSMEN. 



the force is increased the blow is much harder, and 

 stuns. It is the velocity rather than the size or 

 number of the shot that tells. A soldier in battle 

 was struck on the belt-plate by a spent minie bullet 

 not a half inch in diameter, and he described him- 

 self as feeling that he had been torn to pieces, and 

 that a cannon-ball had gone directly through his 

 body. 



The size of the shot is to be proportioned to the 

 size of the bird — weight, of course, being an ele- 

 ment of power and telling on each individual pellet 

 — but the more the aggregate amount can be re- 

 duced the less the recoil. Six drachms of powder 

 and one ounce of shot, will not occasion as much re- 

 coil as three drachms of powder and an ounce and a 

 half of shot. 



The gun should always be held firmly to the 

 shoulder, and the shoulder never rested against 

 a solid substance ; indeed, the collar-bone may be 

 broken by simply firing directly upwards. There- 

 fore, never fire in the air while lying on your back 

 upon the ground, and be careful when shooting at 

 ducks from a boat not to support yourself upon the 

 latter. 



If the reader still doubts the universally disas- 

 trous effects of cringing at the moment of discharge, 

 let him have an assistant to load the gun out of 

 sight, who without his knowledge shall vary the 

 load, and occasionally put in none at all. Then let 

 the reader fire at a mark, and in spite of the efibrts 

 which he will naturally make, he will find when 



