CHAPTER IV 
The height at which a pheasant can be killed — The best angle at which to shoot 
at a high pheasant — General remarks on high pheasants — The influence of 
gravitation on the charge of shot — Perpendicular and horizontal shooting. 
I HAVE given the theoretical aspect of kiUing high pheasants 
at various altitudes, as judged by the results obtained from 
patterns and penetrations carefully recorded on perpendicular 
targets. I will now deal with the killing of high pheasants 
from a more practical point of view, which view, I must say, 
does not entirely corroborate my theoretical deductions. 
On an estate I know of, there is a small, disused factory, 
the chimney of which is exactly 40 yds. high. It has been 
accurately measured, as being a constant source of interest, 
because no shooter has ever been know^n to kill a pheasant, 
and no one has ever seen one killed, that was flying level 
with the top of this chimney 1 Yet, during a day's shooting, 
many scores of birds have passed it. The chimney stands 
in a valley, between low wooded hills, off the sides of which 
the birds rise. Though good game-shots have often tried 
to do so, no one can say that a pheasant has ever been 
killed that was flying overhead level with the top of the 
chimney. 
As it is only fair to give both views of the 40-yd. high 
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