1 68 SHOOTING THE\ PHEASANT 



the left arm ; but its use is equally important in order 

 to kill one passing over the line high and wide to 

 your right or left. This is a difficult and easily 

 missed chance ; you have to hold a long way in front, 

 sometimes what looks like twelve or fifteen feet, but 

 even when you have judged the distance with accuracy 

 everything depends upon the left arm being raised and 

 held with sufficient firmness to insure the gun being 

 kept level and aimed over the line of the bird. If you 

 do not believe this, try some day, when you find your- 

 self missing such shots, the effect of giving the gun 

 an extra toss, and deliberately shooting, as it appears 

 to you, over the bird altogether. You will, if your 

 allowance in front of him be correct, probably kill 

 him stone dead. 



The calculation of how far to hold in front of a 

 high or wide pheasant must, as I have said before, be 

 largely instinctive,' but as the pace of these birds, 

 from the shortness of their flight, varies less than that 

 of partridges or grouse, you may acquire very toler- 

 able proficiency by practice. In a gale of wind, 

 however, a cock pheasant when well under way flies 

 probably as fast as any game-bird ; and many people 

 believe, and profess to have proved, that he flies faster 

 than a partridge. I have tried, but without success, to 

 ' Sec T]te Partridge, vol. i. of The I'ur .ind Featlier Series. 



