14 
HIGH PHEASANTS : 
horizontal one. As a conclusive test of this contention, a dozen 
shots were fired at one of the 7 ft. by 7 ft. targets when 90 yds. 
high. The shot-pellets could be distinctly heard to rattle against 
its tightly stretched linen front, but on lowering it to the ground 
only slight indentations were to be seen, and not a pellet had 
cracked the linen. At 90 yds. horizontally, several pellets, out of 
a dozen shots fired, slightly cracked the linen, and a few even 
penetrated it. At 122 yds. high, or the height of St. Paul's 
Cathedral (which is not 404 ft., as often stated), a considerable 
proportion of the shot-charge reached the target, 1 which in this 
case consisted of a large sheet of tin, because when only a few 
pellets struck it I could plainly hear them do so. 
At this height it was curious to hear the long string of shot 
strike, there being approximately a fifth of a second between the 
arrival of the first and last pellets. At 150 yds. the pellets did 
not reach the target. 
Thinking that at this height I might not hear them if they 
did strike the tin, I brushed it over with whitewash, but, as a 
result of a score shots from a full-choked gun, no pellet-marks 
were to be seen. 
I have proved by shooting cylinder-barrels, as well as modified 
and full-choke ones, with various sizes of shot at an angle of 
45° over water and snow, that a gun will throw No. 6 to 
a range of 300 yds., or just about double the distance it 
attains when fired vertically upwards. At both these maxima 
the shot-pellets are, of course, quite ineffective. 
A pheasant at 80 yds. high is impossible, as the patterns 
and penetration results plainly show. A pheasant at 70 yds. 
high is equally impossible. At 60 yds. perpendicular, I do not 
believe a pheasant has ever been killed with an ordinary game 
^ Some pellets could be heard to strike the sheet of tin up to 145 yds. 
