towards the ground. Secondly, with the stock in the hand, the striker resting against the shoulder, and the muzzle pointing towards the sky. And, thirdly, with the hands laying hold of the gun as in the position for firing, but with the stock against the right hip, and the muzzle pointing towards the sky. This last is the proper position at the moment when a shot is anxiously anticipated, as in walking up to dogs pointing, or when expecting rabbits to cross a narrow ride.

3. The directions for loading must vary according to the kind of gun used, the precautions proper to the muzzle-loader being quite useless if applied to the breech-loader. The young shooter is therefore referred to the directions for loading each in their proper places.

4. Every kind of gun with which I am acquainted may be left at half-cock, or bolted in a corresponding manner; and this is the safest position for it to be in when not immędiately wanted. It is of the greatest importance that the tyro should practise the cocking and uncocking of his gun, so as to be certain that he can accomplish it without any chance of the cock slipping from his fingers, and at the same time to avoid a partial cocking only, by which the striker, or cock, is only slightly held in its place, and is liable to slip down and cause a discharge on the slightest jar. The cause of this will be fully explained hereafter; but in practice all that is necessary is to take great care that the striker is raised to the half-cock, when there will be a peculiar click heard and felt. In letting down the lock from "full-cock" to "half-cock," the striker must be suffered to pass this notch, the finger being on the trigger, and when well below it must be brought up again till it is securely fixed.

5. Take care that the charge does not become loose in the barrel, from the wads being too small for its calibre. Avoid also any chance of snow or dirt getting into the muzzle. A neglect of any of these precautions may lead to the bursting of the gun.

TAKING AIM.

When the gun is thus mastered in the hand, the next thing to be done is to make the hand and eye combine together to take an aim, which may be either at a fixed

(dead or sitting) shot, or at a moveable one, as at a bird flying or a hare running.

In learning to hit a dead mark, which is usually the first step in shooting, the gun may be made familiar to the eye in-doors as well as out; and with the ordinary percussion gun practice may be afforded with a cap only, which will put out a candle at the distance of a couple of yards. A small bore (16 or 18) should be chosen, and then putting the cap on, the gun is brought up to the shoulder, and carrying the eye along the barrel when the "sight" is seen to cover the candle, the trigger is pulled smartly, and if correctly aimed the light is extinguished. By repeating this again and again until the feat is performed with certainty and celerity, a sufficient amount of control over the gun is obtained, which will be found to serve the purpose of facilitating the subsequent stages. Next load the gun with a small charge, say two drachms of powder and three-quarters of an ounce of shot, and then carrying the left hand well forward beneath the barrel, so as to steady the aim, point the gun in the same way as before at some fixed object thirty yards off. This should be surrounded by a flat surface, which will show the whole pattern made by the shot; and if these are scattered pretty nearly all round the central point, the aim has been a good one. On the other hand, if there are more on one side than the other, there has been some fault committed, and the tyro must repeat his effort till he has acquired skill enough to throw the centre of his charge of shot on the object of his aim. It seems a very simple process to do this; but the beginner will find that it will take him some days to master it satisfactorily, and until he has succeeded in this, he should not attempt more. He must remember that at thirty or forty yards the circle well covered by his shot is from forty to thirty-six inches in diameter; and therefore it does not follow that because he kills a bird sitting on a post at that distance, he has really aimed correctly at it. It may have happened that the centre of the charge was nearly two feet on one side of it, but a stray shot on the outside proved fatal, and so his luck, and not his skill, served him. Hence an iron plate whitewashed, with a black centre, or a large sheet of paper having also a mark in the middle, will form

a far better target for practice than any small bird or other similar object, which is nevertheless much more tempting to

the eye.

Shooting flying is a much more difficult art, and a long apprenticeship is necessary to acquire it. Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the use of both eyes in this kind of shooting, or of the right one only; but my own belief is that few people really use both at the moment of shooting, even if they keep them both open. But, whether shutting the left or not, there must be no attempt at looking along the barrel, the correct pointing of the gun being acquired by looking at the object to be shot at, and then instinctively directing the gun towards it. In doing this the line of sight must coincide nearly with the upper surface of the barrel, if the butt of the gun is at the shoulder. Still the eye must not be taken off the object to look along the barrel, or the aim will be imperfect, and the shot probably a "miss." It is quite true that some sportsmen adopt the opposite plan, and invariably wait till they can bring the "sight" to cover the object aimed at; but they are always slow shots, and are almost sure to shoot behind every variety of bird or ground game crossing them; because in this case they should aim in front, proportioning the extent according to the velocity at which the animal is moving. I have heard of an instance in which a partridge flying down wind, was killed at a distance (carefully measured) of one hundred yards from the shooter, who assured me that he aimed, as he thought, fully five yards in front of the bird as it was crossing, and flying exactly parallel with the opposite hedge into which it fell. A very good plan for beginners is to get a friend to throw a potato or turnip into the air, varying its direction at each throw. It should not be sent directly up into the air, because there is then a moment of time at which it is stationary, and may be hit almost as easily as a dead mark; but by throwing straight away, or from left to right and vice versa, the flight of birds may be imitated, and the shooter may obtain practice in everything but the excitement produced by the "whirr" of the partridge or pheasant, to which, however, he must accustom himself by practice before his nerves will be steady enough to allow him to shoot well.

HEDGE POPPING.

When the potato can be pretty certainly hit, let the young shooter try his hand at any bird flying by in the fields, hedges being generally beaten for this purpose; or if he has no opportunity for this, let him procure some sparrows, and shoot them either from the hand or from a trap, such as is used in pigeon trap-shooting (which see p. 14). Should the sparrows be too quick, put their heads through a hole in a small piece of paper, which will retard their flight, and in course of time practice will enable this to be dispensed with. Swallows are bad marks because they are occasionally almost still while hawking, and can then be readily shot. In every case the shooter must endeavour to aim in front of a bird or other animal moving quickly, and for most birds of tolerably quick flight, at forty yards' distance a foot will not be too much to allow on the average. So also in animals approaching or leaving the gun, the aim must be over them, or they will inevitably be missed. With these directions, if patiently and assiduously carried out, the young sportsman will only want to acquire steadiness of nerve to become as skilful in shooting game as, after proper practice, he ought to be in dropping sparrows and other birds of similar small value.

ROOK SHOOTING WITH THE SHOT-GUN AND RIFLE.

Rook shooting with the shot-gun is an amusement which will be of little service in improving the young sportsman, because he will get few flying shots, and those at sitting birds are of very little more use in giving him practice than a target, or a sparrow on the housetop. Young rooks are on the average of seasons out of the nest towards the middle or end of May, and just before they can fly from the trees is the time generally seized by those who care about the "bag." If left till they can fly well, the first report of the gun or rifle sends them all off out of shot, and hence the air-gun and cross-bow are occasionally selected for rook shooting on account of their noiseless action. But even with the gun a

flying shot may occasionally be obtained, and no sportsman worthy of the name would think of shooting at rooks while sitting, excepting with the object of filling a pie. A strong shooting gun and No. 5 shot will be required, or a rifle of small bore specially made for rook and rabbit shooting, as will be explained under the head of THE RIFLE. When the latter is used, the rook may be shot sitting without any compunction, because, at one hundred yards, which is often the distance of the shooter from his mark, it is by no means easy to hit so small an object. With the shot-gun, on the contrary, the distance is the only difficulty, and it is often only by getting directly under the trees, that these birds can be brought within forty or fifty yards, which is a fair range for an ordinary gun. Eley's cartridges may be used even at one hundred yards, with a good prospect of cutting down young rooks; but unless the trees are low, when loose shot will succeed, I should strongly recommend the rifle, as being more sportsmanlike than the shot-gun. The particular kind of rifle suited to this purpose will be hereafter described.

CHAPTER II.

PIGEON AND SPARROW TRAP-SHOOTING.

REMARKS-LAWS OF PIGEON SHOOTING-PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR PIGEON AND SPARROW TRAP-SHOOTING.

PIGEON SHOOTING for some years past has been confined to the frequenters of low public-houses in the large towns; but in the year 1858 the amusement suddenly became fashionable, Lord Huntingfield, the Earl of Stamford, the Hon. Dudley Ward, and Mr. Bateson, having repeatedly shot matches at Hornsey Wood House, which has now taken the place of the Red House, Battersea, once the scene of the triumphs of Mr. Osbaldeston, Captain Ross, and others of almost equal note. A great improvement has been intro