I70 SHOOTING THE PHEASANT 



can detect where the really good shot is standing at 

 once, you seem almost to see the charge strike the 

 bird in the neck and forward part of the breast ; his 

 head falls back, his wings shut together behind his 

 back, and without a kick or struggle he falls straight 

 and heavily on to his breast-bone on the earth. Occa- 

 sionally when the shot is if anything too forward, you 

 see him struck with one or two pellets only, under the 

 chin, or where his chin would be if he possessed one, 

 and as they pass through his brain he spins round and 

 comes down hke an expiring catherine-wheel. How 

 different the result as the pheasant passes over the 

 inferior performer ! Bird after bird flinching and winc- 

 ing, but passing on : or heavily struck in the hinder 

 parts he comes slowly down, at a more obtuse angle, 

 his head and neck intact but in the agonies of death 

 still stretched forth, his wings still half extended, his 

 legs kicked out and his tail spread and broken. Even- 

 tually he reaches the earth, where, unless he can still 

 run, he lies suffering till his neck is wrung by a 

 merciful keeper, and his struggles are ended. 



Why cannot we always get that little bit more for- 

 ward which makes so much difference in the skill of 

 the man, and in mercy to the bird ? Frequently it is 

 from the force of bad habit — from not considering 

 the moving silhouette of the bird against the sky in 



