UPLAND SHOOTING. 
315 
pect of a good chance. The smoothness of the surface and the 
mist makes each bird appear twice as large as it is, which ena¬ 
bles you much more easily to catch sight of them coming up 
from the dive. The mist is also an excellent shroud, if the ground 
is open, without a bush or tuft of reeds to hide behind, when 
the birds are above water. 
“ The wild-fowl shooter must never forget, that true proof of 
his skill consists in obtaining sitting shots, and stopping a num- 
bei of fowl at one discharge; and, unless with divers, must not 
think of a flying right and left. 
“ As an instance of what may be done by patience and cau¬ 
tion, I may conclude this paper by mentioning, that the game- 
keeper of a relation, having seen a flock of Ducks pitched upon 
the shore, and no way of getting near them but over a bare 
field, crawled flat upon his face a distance of three hundred 
yards, pushing his gun before him, not daring even to raise his 
head, and at last got within such fair distance, that he stopped 
four with his first barrel, and one with the other, securing them 
all. His gun was only a small fowling-piece. I should add 
that he had been trained to deer-stalking, under his father, from 
a boy.” 
It may, perhaps, be thought worthy of remark, that this is the 
single quotation which I shall offer to my readers from any 
English author, as regards the mode of beating for, pursuing, 
or killing any kind of game. When I come to treat of gun¬ 
nery, the breeds, breaking, diseases, and treatment of dogs, and 
the like topics, it is on British sporting authors especially, almost 
exclusively, that I shall rely; but, in fact, the game of America 
is so different, the places and modes of taking it so much at va¬ 
riance, and the habits of the few animals of chase, which are 
nearly allied in the two countries, are so completely distinct 
from those of England, that the precepts of the best English 
sporting writers are useless here. Of Col. Hawker’s great 
work, above half—which half was very properly rejected by its 
able American editor—relates to fowl shooting, and fowling 
