Fig (II)
4.
PARABOLIC FEATHERS. weight and balance not being exactly the same is not very great, but there is no reason for giving away anything.
The weight of the arrow should be adapted to that of the bow, for if the arrow is too light it will be liable to flirt. For ladies' bows up to 27 lb., 3.3 should be heavy enough, beyond that weight 3.6 is advisable. For a bow weighing from 45 to 48 lb. the arrow should not be lighter than 4.6, 4.9 being suitable for heavier bows.
Arrows longer or shorter than the regular length should be heavier or lighter accordingly.
In order to ascertain if an arrow is straight, put the nails of the thumb and second finger of the left hand together, place the footing of the arrow upon them, and holding the nock of the arrow with the thumb and finger of the right hand twist the arrow so as to make it revolve. If it does so smoothly it is straight; if it is crooked it will jump.
Tips, as the leather protection for the fingers of the right hand are called, are made of two patterns, the knuckle (Fig. 5) and the screw (Fig. 6). There is not much to choose between them, but great care must be taken that they fit accurately, the top of each finger just showing through the top of the tip. The leather of each tip should be of the same substance, and not too thick.
It will be found a good plan, in order to keep the tips supple, to rub vaseline into them, and before putting them on, the fingers should be moistened and rubbed on glue.
There are many other devices for protecting the fingers and obtaining a good 1 [ARCHERY concentric rings are painted-the centre gold, then red, blue, black, and white. The value of each ring is respectively 9, 7, 5, 3, and I, and the arrow counts as if it were in the ring of the highest value which it touches. It is usual to have two targets pitched opposite each other at from two to five yards more than the distance to be shot, the centre of the target being four feet from the ground. Each archer stands at the proper distance in front of the target and shoots three arrows, which are called an end. After all have shot, another end is