26 
HIGH PHEASANTS : 
target the cylinder at 30 yds. averaged 174 and the modified- 
choke 207. The cyUnder had a considerable advantage in one 
way, as its pattern was larger and more evenly spread, especially 
round the outside of the 30-in. circle. It would have been the 
best gun of the two for a moderate shot to use at fairly high 
pheasants, as its wide and well-distributed pattern allowed the 
most latitude for an incorrect aim. 
From the above it will be realised that at 30 yds. perpen- 
dicular, if a shooter aims correctly, he could scarce fail to kill 
his bird, for even with a cylinder-gun his shot-pattern at the 
height given is not far short of that of a full-choke at 40 yds. 
horizontal. 
On Hearing the Shot-Charge Strike the Bird, 
A curious question, and one that relates to the distance of a 
bird from the gun, is how high or far is a pheasant when one 
hears, or fancies one hears, the shot strike it. 
If this sound is really heard, and is not some form of echo, 
which I believe it to be, it cannot be caused by the 
pellets striking the soft body of the bird, but something 
hard, such as the quills of the larger wing-feathers. I have, 
however, more than once picked up a bird which a friend 
declared he had heard his shot strike, and yet none of the 
quills of the wing-feathers were damaged. Shot passing 
through the webs of the wing-feathers would make no noise 
that could be audible to the shooter. 
Shooting at a large sheet of tin — a very resounding substance 
— and with the aid of a special stop-watch, I make the interval 
between the discharge of a gun, fired by an assistant close to 
me, and the returning sound of the pellets striking the tin as 
