60 
HIGH PHEASANTS : 
Summary. — The six birds were struck by eight pellets, 
none of which would have scored a kill. 
In connection with Series VI., VII., VIII., I must repeat 
that if the 30-in. selected circles on the 7 ft. by 7 ft. targets, 
from which the shot-patterns on the birds were taken, had 
been travelling fast overhead at fifty to sixty miles per 
hour, like flying pheasants, they would not have shown so 
many pellet-marks as they do (see below, ' The Stringing of 
Shot'). 
For the same reason, the birds in the diagrams would have 
fewer pellets on them, and one pellet should be deducted from 
each. If we deduct one pellet from each bird, then Series VI. 
suggests that at a height of 40 yds. there is a fair chance 
of killing a pheasant. At 50 yds.. Series VII., there is 
practically no chance of doing so, as at this height a pheasant 
would seldom be struck by more than two pellets, and these 
would not have sufficient force to penetrate a vital part, 
even if (once in a score times) they happened to strike 
above it. 
At 60 yds.. Series VIII., not one bird in six might even 
be hit ; and if a pellet had the luck to do so, it could not 
have a striking- velocity to cause injury. 
The Stringing of Shot, 
Though I have alluded to this subject more than once 
in connection with killing fast-flying crossing birds, I will now 
refer to it again, and more fully. 
The reason of the stringing of a charge of shot, when fired 
from a gun, has never been explained, or why it should fly 
forward like a squirt of water from a garden syringe. 
