IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 
7 
This, however, was not the case, for on shooting at the 
bull's-eye, with my right or left shoulder towards the kite, i.e. 
standing sideways to the latter, the charge of shot equally 
went a little beyond the mark aimed at, though to one side in 
accordance with the force of the wind.^ When I write that 
^ No doubt the reason is that the stock of a gun takes quite a different position 
when placed to the shoulder for an overhead shot to what it does for a horizontal 
one. In the former case the heel of the stock and the centre of the heel-plate 
rest against the unyielding bone of the shoulder, the toe of the stock being just 
clear of the shoulder. The result is, that when the gun is fired, i.e. directly the 
cartridge explodes, the toe of the stock is driven into the shoulder by the 
recoil, which means that the muzzle of the gun is, at the same instant, 
slightly depressed, and the charge of shot sent rather lower than the aim taken. 
In the latter case — i.e. in a horizontal shot — the toe and the centre of the heel- 
plate rest against the shoulder, and the heel of the stock is slightly clear of the 
shoulder. When the recoil takes place the heel of the stock is driven into the 
shoulder, and the muzzle of the gun is, thereby, slightly elevated, with the result 
that the centre of the charge is thrown a trifle high. When I wrote the first 
article on high pheasants I did not realise this, or why a gun shot a little low at 
a stationary bull's-eye straight overhead, but as soon as I suspected the probable 
cause, as above explained, I investigated the matter thoroughly, and at once 
set to work to prove the truth of it. 
The Horizontal Shot 
I fixed two lo-ft. poles in the ground a yard apart, and connected their tops 
with a cross stick. From the centre of this cross stick, to a peg below its centre 
in the earth, I stretched a length of cotton thread At the height of the shoulder 
the cotton was previously cut in half, and the ends joined to a ring of 
thin wire, through which the muzzle of a gun could just be inserted. On 
firing the gun horizontally, and standing in line with the upright thread, the 
lower portion of it, or its half between the ring and the ground, was always 
broken, thus showing that the barrels of the gun were jerked shghtly upwards 
when the recoil occurred. 
The Perpendicular Shot 
The cross piece was now removed, and the tops of the poles were joined by 
the stretched cotton thread — the wire ring, as before, dividing it into separate 
lengths. On placing the muzzle of the gun through the ring, and then firing 
perpendicular shots, while standing in Une with and below the thread, I found 
time after time, that the half of the thread which passed over and behind me 
was broken. This showed that the barrels of the gun jumped a httle downwards, 
