HOW rO KILL THEM 157 



the opposite rough diagram the conventional flush at 

 the end of a covert is shown, and if you are placed as 

 the shooter is there, it is at the point b, and not at 

 the point a, that you should try to kill your bird. It 

 is only the bad or greedy shot who fires at the point 

 A. The bird is here only moving upward, and the 

 whole of his body is exposed to your fire ; should 

 you not aim sufficiently above him, you will smash 

 him to pieces, make him unfit for the table, and, 

 while appearing over-keen and deserving no credit for 

 the shot, you will spoil the chance, either for yourself 

 or your neighbour, of a kill, properly executed, without 

 damage to the bird, at the angle b. Should the bird 

 come over the trees in front of you, from some more 

 remote flushing point, the angle b is still the proper 

 one, when he is coming directly over your head, at 

 which to kill him. Properly done, it should be a 

 single-barrel performance. In this case to kill him 

 sooner is more difficult than at the correct angle b, 

 and you will constantly see the bird missed with the 

 first barrel at the point c and cleverly killed with the 

 second at b. But this is a waste of a cartridge, and 

 when many birds are coming, of a chance. You 

 should have sufficient confidence, for a shot of this 

 kind, to rely entirely on the single shot at the proper 

 angle. You may, though you probably will not, in 



