74 
HIGH PHEASANTS : 
shot to kill one of them, when swinging his gun on his bird in 
the usual way. 
There is one question relative to the overhead pheasant 
that I should refer to, and this is the killing of the bird 
when it has passed behind the shooter. 
It is not usual, and is seldom satisfactory, to pull trigger 
at a bird of this kind ; though if the shooter happens to have 
wounded it in front of him, he will, of course, endeavour 
to stop its career. 
A very high bird that has flown overhead and been missed, 
is best left alone, as firing at it after it has passed is generally 
useless, and hence unsportsmanlike. 
It is, as a rule, useless to do so, because the pellets 
of shot strike a bird flying away with about half the force 
they would strike the same bird when flying towards the 
shooter. This specially applies to a fast-driven grouse or 
pheasant, as the shot seldom reaches the mark before the latter 
is 40 yds. from the shooter, if he had to right-about-face to 
fire at it. 
When firing at an approaching bird the shot meets it, and 
its pace as it flies against the pellets causes them to strike 
with great penetrative force. 
When a bird is flying away, at a high speed, the shot has to 
overtake it, and, as both are travelling rapidly in the same 
direction, the striking-energy of the former is only about half 
as much as it would be if it was meeting the bird.^ 
' This does not apply to a bird rising in front, as when walking up game, as in 
this case it has not attained its full speed when shot at, or nearly what its pace 
would be if it had been driven over the shooter from a distance. 
