450 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
to be going very fast, and seems likely to get out of 
shot before you can pull the trigger, this apparent 
swiftness of flight is due partly to the nervousness of 
the shooter. Where the shooting is open there is al- 
ways, or almost always, abundant time to point your 
gun just where you want it. Most of the shots that are 
missed are due to overeagerness, which means undue 
haste. The shooter may feel perfectly certain that he 
will miss his bird unless the gun is pointed very nearly 
straight at it. The shot spreads over a circle of three 
or four feet in diameter, and sometimes, even if the 
gun is not pointed straight at the bird, the edge of the 
charge of shot will hit it and perhaps knock it down; 
but this is a chance not worth considering—the bird 
should be hit with the center of the charge. It was, 
perhaps, Frank Forrester who spoke of “deliberate 
promptitude,” and this deliberate promptitude is one 
of the secrets of being a successful and a good shot. 
After all, this merely means coolness and training, the 
keeping of one’s wits about him all the time, and never 
being disturbed or flustered by any event of the field. 
Many of the best and most experienced shots never 
reach the point where they can hear birds get up all 
about them without quickened heart-beats and jumping 
nerves, yet many of them never show by their shooting 
that they are discomposed by the noise. 
It has been my experience, on a number of occasions, 
to go out with people who had done little or no field 
shooting, and I have found that a word of caution, the 
mere warning, “Take your time,” when a bird rose, 
