2 
HIGH PHEASANTS : 
shot somewhere on its surface, in such a way that I could obtain 
from the pellet-marks the usual selected 30-in. circle by which 
a gun's shooting is tested horizontally. I had to arrange 
my target so that its height above ground could be easily 
ascertained, and also varied as occasion required. 
Besides this, I had to make a target frame which, when 
covered with a material to record the shot-marks, was not too 
heavy for a kite to lift ; and it was necessary to suspend the 
target so that it could be lowered and then raised again without 
winding in the kite. After a shot I had to contrive that 
the material recording it — that is to say, the covering of the 
target frame — could be taken quickly off and replaced when 
the target was lowered to the ground, previous to its being 
hoisted again for another pattern to be made. My second 
object was to raise a target which would give the penetrative 
force of a gun at various heights. 
Target for Testing Perpendicular Patterns of a Gun. 
I had endless trouble. The first serious difficulty was to 
make a framework of thin laths which, when covered with some 
light material, would form a perfectly flat and level target to 
shoot at, and which would not hang sideways, or, as mine often 
did at first, turn upside down. In my earliest efforts I covered 
the target frame with sheets of white paper pasted together so 
as to fit the frame in one piece, each piece forming a surface 
7 ft. by 7 ft. 
I had several dozen of these sheets prepared, and intended 
to secure them, one by one as used, to the frame of the target 
with drawing-board pins. It was unfortunate that I did not 
