APPARATUS.

Ir may not be amiss to remind the beginner what articles he should know that he has with him before starting for the field (exclusive of having an oilskin, or, what we now find much better, a Macintosh gun-cover in case of rain): viz. powder flask, shot, wadding, a knife, and a flint case, with a gunpicker and turnscrew, which, as well as a little chamber-probe, are usually attached to this case. We will say nothing about a game-bag, as a man, who requires to be told all this, is very unlikely to kill more than may be contained in his pockets.

In case he should forget some of these things, I only beg the favour of him to learn one poor line of blank verse, which will be easier remembered than one quarter of what has been here said in prose:

Take powder, shot, gun, wadding, flints, and knife,

or, if with detonater,

caps, and case.

SHOOTING.

I SHALL leave the following directions, as they originally stood, for flint-guns; repeating my observation that, with detonaters, the young sportsman has only to make half the allowance at crossing objects, &c.

Let every one, who begins shooting, take warning from the many serious misfortunes that have, alas! too often occurred, and start with the determination of never suffering a gun, at any time, to be held for a moment, or even carried, so as to be likely to come in the direction of either man or beast. One, who strictly abides by this golden rule, would be less liable to accidents, even if he went from his door with both barrels cocked, than he who neglected it for a few frivolous maxims.

But to be brief, (which is here my study) allow me to suggest an humble attempt for the instruction of the complete novice. First, let him take a gun that he can manage, and be shown how to put it to his shoulder, with the breech and sight on a level, and make himself master of bringing them up to a wafer.

Then [with a wooden or bone driver, instead of a flint; or any thing to protect his lock from the concussion of iron versus iron, if a detonater], let him practise at this mark; and, when he thinks he can draw his trigger without flinching, he may present the gun to your right eye, by which you will see, at once, if he is master of his first lesson. In doing this he must remember, that the moment the gun is brought up to the centre of the object, the trigger should be pulled, as the first sight is always unquestionably the best.

Then send him out to practise at a card with powder, till he has got steady, and afterwards load his gun, occasionally, with shot; but never let the time of your making this addition be known to him, and the idea of it being, perhaps, impossible to strike his object, will remove all anxiety, and he will soon become perfectly collected.

The intermediate lesson of a few shots, at small birds, may be given; but this plan throughout must be adopted at game, and continued, in the first instance, till the pupil has quite divested himself of all tremor at the springing of a covey, and observed, in the last, till most of his charges of shot have proved fatal to the birds. If he begins with both eyes open, he will save himself the trouble of learning to shoot so afterwards. An aim thus, from the right shoulder, comes to the same point as one taken with the left eye shut, and it is the most ready method of shooting quick.

Be careful to remind him (as a beginner) to keep his gun moving, as follows:-before an object, crossing; full high for a bird rising up, or flying away very low; and between the ears of hares and rabbits, running straight away; all this, of course, in proportion to the distance; and if we consider the velocity with which a bird flies, we shall rarely err by firing, when at forty yards, at least five or six inches before it. (As the barrels of double guns usually shoot a little inwards at long distances, there is so far a preference in favour of the right barrel for an object crossing to the left, and vice versa, that if we were beating along the side of a hedge, it would be best to keep the barrel next to it in a state of preparation). Till the pupil is au fait in all this, he will find great assistance from the sight, which he should have precisely on the intended point, when he fires. He will thus, by degrees, attain the art of killing his game in good style, which is to fix his eyes on the object, and fire the moment he has brought up the gun. He may then, ultimately, acquire the knack of killing snap shots, and bring down a November bird the moment it tops the stubble, or a rabbit popping in a furze-brake, with more certainty than he was once used to shoot a young grouse in August, or a partridge in September.

Many begin with very quick shooting, and kill admirably well; but are often apt not to let their birds fly before they put up their guns, and therefore dreadfully mangle them, and, I have observed, are not such every day shots as those who attain their rapid execution on a slow and good principle.

There are few of my young readers, I dare say, that have not, at some time or other, met with a man who, wishing to show off his shooting, has never fired but when he was pretty sure of killing, and whose pride was to be able to boast after dinner that he had bagged so many birds without having missed a shot the whole morning. But before we give this person credit for the name to which he aspires, let us ask him whether, in so doing, he brought home as much game as he ought to do? or whether, in order to bag a dozen head of game without missing, he has not refused at least twenty shots, in covert, &c., and, taking all chances, about eight or ten of which ought to have been killed? It is generally the mistaken idea of those who are no judges of

shooting, that if a man kills a certain number of times without missing, he is to be put down as a first-rate shot; and that another person, because he has been seen to miss, is to be considered as his inferior.

With regard to the distance which constitutes a fair shot, there is no speaking precisely; but as far as such things can be brought to paper, and guns to an average, I should say, that provided a gun is held straight, a bird should scarcely ever escape at forty yards; and that that is the outside of point-blank range, although, at fifty yards, the chances are three to one in favour of killing, with a good aim; but as a gun never shoots twice alike, a bird, at this distance, may sometimes be struck with three or four shot, and, at others, may escape through an interval, though the piece be never so well directed. But if a pellet should take a bird in a vital part, or the wing, at seventy or even eighty yards, it would probably come down, though the odds (at such distances) are, of course, against your hitting it at all. Birds flying straight away, or coming to you, require a much harder blow, than those crossing or flying directly over your head; by reason that, in the first instance, they are partly shielded by the rump, and in the second, the feathers are apt, at long distances, to glance the shot.

Under these circumstances, a man must either pick his shots or occasionally miss, though his gun be every time held straight. I may venture to say there is no sportsman living who has not been known to miss the fairest shots; and there are very few but now and then in a season will shoot badly for a whole day. It stands to reason when the most skilful may become, for a time, unnerved for shooting, by ill-health, oppression of mind, one night's debauch, or any thing that will operate on the temper or

nerves.

One, who vexes himself about missing a fair shot, is the less likely to support himself at all times as a first-rate performer, because that vexation alone might be the very means of his missing other shots, and therefore he could not be so much depended on as another man who bore the disappointment with good humour.

When two persons are shooting together, there cannot be a more simple way of avoiding confusion than for each man, when a covey rises, to select the outer birds on his own side. Let all

birds that cross belong exclusively to that shooter for whose side their heads are pointed; and let all single birds, that may rise and go away fair for either person, be taken alternately, and left entirely for the two barrels of the shooter to whom they belong.

From one, who professes himself an adept with a double gun, it is expected, that he will kill a bird with each barrel, almost every time the covey rises within fair distance; unless impeded by the smoke of his first barrel or other obstacles, which he should endeavour to avoid. The usual method is to take down the gun, and present it afresh, after the first shot; but as I have seen fourteen successive double shots killed the other way, I shall venture to recommend it, as being more expeditious. It is, never to take the gun from the shoulder, till both barrels are fired; by which means so little time is taken between the two shots, that the first, as well as the second bird, may be suffered to fly to a proper distance; and let those, who are not to be trusted with both barrels cocked, get the gravitating stops or use a single gun.

As a further proof of the quickness with which two barrels may be correctly fired, provided the gun is kept to the shoulder, I shall mention an instance.-John Ford, gamekeeper to the Earl of Portsmouth, and a man about six feet six! laid his gun on the ground, of course with both barrels cocked; and, after throwing off two penny-pieces himself, he took up his gun, and hit them both most handsomely, before either fell to the ground. He requested me to try, with his gun if I could do the same. At first I failed, for want of being, what we used to call at Eton, a good "shy;" but, after Ford had given me a few lessons in the throwing department, I did it the first time, (though, perhaps, more by luck than skill,) putting five shot in one and six in the other; which led me to conclude that, by practice, this might be reduced to about the same degree of certainty as other quick double shots. As to a man with his gun in his hand, throwing up, and hitting two penny-pieces, or half-pence, it is no more than what many shots can do, by the mere knack of catching the first just after the turn, and presenting well under the second: but the other performance is really a difficulity. Let some of the pigeonshooters try this, by way of a "spree," and they will save a deal of innocent blood, and find they have enough to do. Most