AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
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cock one barrel, and fire — bring down his gun — cock the 
other barrel, bring it to the shoulder, and fire again. 
Others recommend the learner, in order to insure delibe- 
ration, that so soon as the birds have sprung, to speak the 
words “hold, halt, now!” before firing, intending by this 
to give time for self-command, and the bird a proper dis- 
tance. Another relates, in exemplification of his rules, an 
anecdote of a Frenchman, who was so deliberate in his 
movements, that after the bird had sprung, he would take 
from his pocket his snutf-box — take a pinch of snuff — re- 
place the box — and then kill his bird. Now, all this 
looks well enough on paper, and does to give temporary 
amusement to the reader; but let me tell you, young 
Sportsman, this cannot be so — and if you are to account 
yourself proficient in the science of shooting flying, only 
when you can do these things, you may at once despair of 
ever becoming a good shot. I can see no use of laying 
down rules which can never be followed, nor giving ad- 
vice which the preceptors themselves never follow; it 
only adds more difficulties, already numerous, to be sur- 
mounted by the learner, and trammels his way with per- 
plexities which should never exist. 
It certainly would amuse me much, to have a few excur- 
sions after the Pheasant and Partridges of this country, 
with those authors who recommend such rules. I would 
like to see how often they would exercise them, and with 
what success. It argues one of two things, viz. that these 
authors are only theoretically acquainted with shooting, or, 
that the English game-birds bear no comparison in the 
velocity of their flight, with those of this country; the lat- 
ter case, however, is the most probable, — and to prove the 
fallacy of such rules, permit me to remark, that one of our 
Partridges, at the most moderate computation, will fly, 
when in possession of strength, and the vigour of maturity, 
forty-five feet in a second of time, and a Pheasant sixty 
feet. Now supposing on an average, the bird will rise from 
you twenty feet, and the expression of the words, “ hold, 
halt, now,” will consume three seconds more, the Par- 
tridge will have departed a distance of one hundred and 
fifty-five feet, or upwards of fifty yards, before you shoot 
— and the Pheasant sixty-seven yards. Now tell me, what 
success would a Sportsman have, who would follow this 
rule. It is well enough to avoid all danger, and 'it would 
be an excellent thing would Sportsmen never cock their 
guns until the game has sprung— but as I said before, no one 
follows it, and a rule is no rule unless it governs in some 
instances — hence I advise the young Sportsman to adopt the 
common usage, and if he is careful in other respects, I 
will vouch that no accident will accrue by cocking his gun 
prior to starting the game. 
After you have fired, bring your dogs to the “ down 
A A 
charge” again, and without moving from the place put 
your gun in the attitude of loading, and fix your eyes on 
the flying game to the utmost stretch, and mark their direc- 
tion by some standing object. Should not those birds 
which you fire at fall, it may, as it often has happened, 
that although mortally wounded, they have gone off in 
company with their fellows, sometimes to the extremity of 
their flight, and again but a short distance, and fall dead, 
which more particularly proves the necessity of watching 
the birds until their flight is completed, or they are hidden 
from your view by some intervening object. Should you 
have discharged but one barrel, do not commence loading 
again, until you have uncocked your gun, by letting it down 
upon the tube; and I would impress on you by all means 
not to remove the broken fragments of the cap from the dis- 
charged barrel, until after you have reloaded, and are about 
to put another cap on. This advice will appear more 
weighty, when I remark, that explosions sometimes occur 
when the powder is poured from the flask into the empty 
barrel, in consequence of a spark having remained at the 
bottom of the barrel: this may be avoided, by not remov- 
ing the broken cap, inasmuch as the force of the percussion 
being so great, as generally to drive a portion of the cap 
into the tube, which so effectually keeps out air, that 
should a spark have remained in the barrel, it would be- 
come extinguished as instantaneously by pouring in the 
powder, as if saturated by water; but, should you remove 
these broken fragments, and open a passage for the air to 
circulate freely, it would fan and keep a spark alive, and 
an explosion would certainly be the consequence: the stop- 
page of this tube by the copper, acts precisely as the 
thumb on the touch-hole when firing ordnance. 
I witnessed an explosion hut a short time since, which 
had like to have proved serious, being as I supposed occa- 
sioned by drawing back the cock, and removing the bro- 
ken cap; the powder exploded when poured in, burst, and 
drove the flask from the hand of the shooter to the distance 
of thirty yards, — but fortunately the only injury was a 
scorching of the face and hands. Such accidents can only be 
accounted for on the above principle; for this reason, I con- 
demn those small vents which appear at the sides of some 
percussion guns. 
Being prepared a second time, give the dogs the usual 
sign of readiness, and then follow, in direct line, the flight 
of the birds. Observe the same gait at all times, and let 
your dogs quarter the ground well until you reach the de- 
sired spot. In this way you may recover many a dead bird, 
which has fallen short of its intended flight, and not unfre- 
quently encounter another covey. In getting over fences, 
I have seen the hurried Sportsman accidentally discharge 
his gun, by having it cocked, and his finger, unheeded by 
