HOW TO KILL THEM 169 



get trustworthy statistics to prove this ; but though I 

 am not inchned to disbeheve it, I cannot say that any 

 absolutely proved case has been found to support it. 

 The partridge certainly looks to fly the faster of the 

 two, but the amount of pheasants missed or struck 

 too far back shows clearly enough that the latter at 

 any rate flies much faster than he appears to do. We 

 know that the capercailzie is usually missed by novices 

 from the same deceptive quality, due to his size ; and 

 I am told by those who have shot the great bustard in 

 Spain, that the same thing usually happens to begin- 

 ners there. 



The pheasant is the largest bird, excepting the 

 black-cock, that we habitually shoot ; and though the 

 latter, from the stately beat of his wings, is especially 

 apt to deceive us as to pace, yet the pheasant's tail 

 amply makes up for his quicker wing action, and I 

 think betrays us into shooting behind him oftener than 

 any other bird. 



Nothing is more instructive than to look on 

 during a big stand for pheasants, when you do not 

 know the order in which the other guns are placed, 

 and to try and pick out each individual gun from 

 your knowledge of his form, as you see the birds 

 pass over the line. It is wonderful what an extra- 

 ordinary difference those little five inches make ; you 



