IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 
75 
If we take the velocity of No. 6 shot and deduct from it 
the speed at which a fast pheasant, that has passed, might 
be flying, it is easy to arrive at the striking- velocity of the 
pellets, which, as I have said, is approximately half what it 
would be if the bird was approaching. 
Take, for example, a football, or a punch-ball such as boxers 
practise with, suspended by a cord from the ceiling. 
If we strike the ball with the closed fist as it swings away, 
the impact of the blow is as nothing compared to what it is 
when the ball is hit on its return swing towards us. 
As the ball swings away, it may be said to represent the 
tail-shot at a bird, and as it swings back again, the 
approaching shot. 
This shows how difficult it is to kill a bird from even an 
ordinary distance behind, that has flown fast overhead, 
putting on one side the fact that its vital parts are so slightly 
exposed to the gun. 
A fast going-away pheasant generally requires to be hit 
with many more pellets to kill it than it would require 
if it were coming towards the gun and flying against the 
shot. 
Even a tall pheasant, straight overhead— as it is not then 
meeting the shot — does not receive such a killing blow from 
the charge as it would if it were fired at, as I have advised, 
before it attained this position — that is, when it was a few 
yards to the front of the shooter, though, of course, high 
above ground. 
If a high pheasant that has passed has, however, to be 
shot at, the aim, I would almost say, cannot be too low. It 
should be at least, to all appearance, a yard beneath the mark, 
or, at all events, below and clear of it, and never directly at 
