HIGH PHEASANTS: 
IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 
CHAPTER I 
The targets, and how they were arranged — The effect of wind on a charge of 
shot — Why a gun shoots a Uttle high at horizontal birds, and a little low 
at birds overhead. 
In this treatise I propose to describe the experiments I have 
lately made to test the capabilities of a gun on pheasants at 
different elevations, as well as to treat generally on the shooting 
of high pheasants. 
I will commence with the theoretical aspect of the subject, 
as exemplified in perpendicular versus horizontal target practice. 
Of course, horizontal shooting at a 6 ft. to 7 ft. square iron 
plate at various ranges, each range correctly marked with a 
peg in the ground, is simple enough; but when it comes to 
obtaining records of pattern and penetration at targets from 
30 to 80 yds. high in the air it is by no means an easy matter. 
I succeeded, however, in doing this after many failures and 
much wreckage of the apparatus I primarily employed. 
My first object was to suspend a target with a surface of 7 ft. 
by 7 ft. to the string of a great kite, so that I could record the 
patterns of a gun on it at various heights. With so large a 
target as this I knew I could not fail to centralise a charge of 
B 
