Tilbrook
of whom he was not a little jealous, enabled a party of eight guns to break the local record at Six-mile-bottom in a day's partridge driving by his thorough knowledge of the ways of the birds, and by accepting a friendly hint to abstain from finally planning out the day's beat without going over the ground early on the morning of the shooting and taking note of the force and direction of the wind as likely to affect their flight.
So much has been written upon actual shooting as well as upon management as to make it extremely difficult to touch upon that part of the subject without reduplication; but perhaps there is one point in the science of handling a gun not yet sufficiently appreciated. There is a prevailing tendency to exaggerate the difficulty of killing a very fast-flying bird. The majority of writers apply themselves to the question "how far to hold in front."
The problem should be solved automatically in each case by the practised hand and eye; no elaborate calculation by feet or inches is required. A high- or low-crossing bird must arrive sooner or later at the point where the shooter intends to strike it, and this point, in the case of long shots, should be chosen a little after the actual passing of the bird with a view to allow the shot to penetrate, as it does more easily, under rather than through the feathers.
In raising a gun, the muzzle is by the first movement instinctively pointed in the direction of the bird; indeed, in driving, if the trigger is accidentally pulled before the gun is raised from the hip, the bird nevertheless frequently falls. In cross-shots a swinging motion is given to the gun practically corresponding to the flight of the bird, and regulated by the pace at which it progresses; thus in the case of a fast bird this swinging motion is more rapid, and the extra swing required to reach the point at which it will arrive by the time the gun touches the shoulder and is instantaneously fired comes quite naturally as the result of adapting swing to pace. The principle can perhaps be further illustrated by comparison with the act of catching a cricket ball.
Whether at short slip or in the far field, a quickly passing ball is more surely held if the hand reaches it at precisely the right instant. A good fieldsman, if he cannot arrive in time to face the ball and receive it straight before him, runs at a pace calculated to get his fingers in front of it neither too soon nor too late; he throws out his hand a little quicker than the ball is travelling, not pointing first to where it is and then jerking forward along the level of its flight, but gaining the proper advance and the proper level at the same instant and in the same swing. If the hand arrives too soon he will probably miss the catch; if too late he will certainly do so; his legs, his eyes, and his hand, or hands, must act in unison to enable his fingers to grasp the ball at the very instant of passing within his reach, and the quicker the ball the quicker are his combined movements. So it is in shooting; the exact level and the exact advance should be attained slowly or rapidly by the same movement according to the pace of the bird, and according to what will be its consequent position at the time when the charge of shot can reach the required distance. The travelling rate of shot with a charge of black powder (some of the smokeless powders are more variable) should be as well known to the practised sportsman as that of his own legs and arins to a cricketer.
WALSINGHAM.
ENGINES AND ACCESSORIES. - Sewin. The sewin, as applied to sport, is modern invention, although its original form has been much modified and not a THE SEWIN. improved in recent years. Moreover, owing to the difficulty experienced in many districts in obtaining the requisite number of boys as stops, the practical use of the sewin is likely to extend.
Board schools, although willing to spare boys occasionally for the day, become naturally restive when keepers require them for three or four days successively. Under these circumstances the sewin, if properly worked, offers an effective and economical substitute. The sewin itself consists simply of a white cord, in 300 or 600 yards lengths, to which is attached, at intervals of 12 inches, white feathers and scarlet tape.
Brass ferret bells, or "ruggles," are also fastened at intervals of 5 yards. The cord thus prepared is wound round a large reel, which is secured on the shoulders of the bearer by a light iron frame. Prior to the placing of the sewin in position, hazel or ash [SHOOTING sticks, 2 feet high and split at the top, should be inserted in the ground at suitable intervals to carry the sewin. Directly the sewin is set up, a boy is left at the reel end, whose duty it is to keep jerking the cord.
The sewin is used not only inside the covers, but also at varying distances outside. In the latter case, it is generally supplemented by red and white flags, which are placed in position first thing in the morning. The appearance of the sewin when wound round the reel, and when stretched, is illustrated in the three illustrations. The reel, iron frame, and sewin show the apparatus as modified by Mr. Jarvis Reckless, The Paddock, Ross, Herefordshire, who supplies the various parts at the following prices :- Reel for sewin • 5s. 6d.
Iron frame for winding reel. 5s. 6d.
Sewin, per 100 yards 13s.
The accompanying plan represents the actual mode of working. This plan shows the position of the sewin and of the guns during the first beat. In subsequent beats the sewin is indicated by a dotted line drawn between the letters A B, &c., and the position of the guns described in the text is not shown. The cover represented is somewhat irregular in shape, and consists of about 60 acres on very steep hill sides.
About 9 o'clock on the day of shooting sewin is run on the south side of No. 4 plot in the plan and continued between Nos. 4 and 3.
Ist Beat. Half an hour before the guns arrive the line of beaters form at the north end of No. I, and, keeping the right shoulder forward, sweep the birds into No. 2; they then re-form at the north end of No. 2 and drive into No. 5. The sewin is now run between Nos. 2 and 5 to prevent the birds from running back. The corner of No. 5 is thick underwood, and affords good cover for the birds. The guns are then placed across the deep dell, and the birds are driven towards them as the beaters advance from the south-east side of the plot.
From the corner the birds fly back to Nos. I and 2. 2nd Beat. The sewin is now removed from between Nos. 2 and 5, and is run out across No. I between the points A and B, the guns are placed on the opposite side of the deep dell, facing the sewin. The beaters then advance from the further corner and drive the birds over the heads of the guns. 3rd Beat. In this beat the guns are sent forward to a ride between Nos. 2 and 3, in which the sewin has previously been run, CD; and the beaters advance from the west side of No. 2. At this point some skill must be exercised to ensure the birds rising SHOOTING] over the guns, as they will be disposed to fly back.
The sewin is now removed from the points A B on No. I to points E F between No. 2 and the corner of No. 5, to prepare for the reverse way of shooting. 4th Beat. The guns are stationed in the ride between 3 and 4, opposite to the sewin which was run in the morning between G and H, and the beat is driven from the W. side in the same way as in the 3rd beat. 5th Beat. After luncheon the line of beaters is formed at the east end of No. 4, and the guns take their position between 4 and 3. No. 4 is a rocky piece of rough ground on which the birds do not run, but rise as the beaters advance and fly high over the guns. 6th Beat. Guns go forward to the rise between 2 and 3, and beaters advance from the E. side as in the 5th beat. 7th Beat. Guns now make a détour to the right for the corner of No. 5, while the beaters form line at the north end of No. 2 and drive it into No. 5. While the birds are being driven across rides, the sewin is removed, and is replaced after they have passed if necessary. The rest of the day may be made out in another cover.
It is scarcely necessary to add that the plan of beating ground backwards and forwards in the manner we have described can only be adopted where game is unusually abundant.
Kite (artificial).-Partridge shooting with the kite, which, twenty or thirty years ago, was not uncommonly practised by sportsmen, is now largely a thing of the past. It was chiefly used in dry seasons, when roots and cover in the open were scarce, or when the season was advanced and the birds refused to lie. In both these cases it has since to a great extent been superseded by driving. The artificial kite was made of brown calico, stretched on a wire frame; and although when closely viewed the likeness was very rough, yet in mid air the appearance of a hovering hawk was strikingly realised. In flying the kite, the object was to keep it as steady as possible, and, to facilitate this, a cord was fastened to the tail, on which three or more caps of silk, or very light metal, were threaded at intervals: in rough winds more of these caps were needed. Owing to the calico being stretched somewhat loosely over the frame, its outer edges, when the kite was steady, were kept in continual agitation by the air, thus producing the almost perfect illusion of a hovering hawk. The mode of procedure was as follows:-The kite was always worked down wind, about hundred yards in front of the guns, and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty one yards above the ground: if flown lower it was apt to cause the birds to rise before the guns got near. When two guns only were out, each one took a side of the hedge.
The keeper and his retriever went with one gun, while a beater went with the other.
The man who was flying the kite kept at some distance from the guns: the object being to drive the birds from the open SEWIN ON FRAME, READY TO BE RUN OUT. ground into the hedgerows. If four guns were out, two hedges were worked at once.
The flight of a partridge before a kite is quite different to its ordinary flight; the bird never rises far above the ground, and a whole covey will often break up and dart away in different directions. Moreover, when the sportsman sees a covey betake itself to a hedgerow and flatters himself they are within his grasp, he sometimes finds on beating the hedge that he does not obtain a single shot. This generally happens when there is cover like long grass on the other side. In such cases the scared birds, no longer seeing the kite, run like Frenchmen (red legs), and are seen no more. kite is better adapted to large manors than to small ones; but it may be used without detriment on the latter, provided there are plenty of hedgerows, or young plantations, The for the birds to fly into. It is worse than useless to attempt kite flying in a wide, open country without hedgerows, gorse, or cover of some sort: for at the very first sight of the kite the birds will scatter in all directions, skimming or shooting in a longsustained low flight, which will possibly carry them right away for the day.
A kite should never be used after the birds have paired, which in average seasons may be taken as January 10th. To use a kite after that date would be to run the risk of driving your birds on to an adjoining manor. Where partridges are found pairing, there or thereabouts they generally make their nests. So to drive them from such spots is not only impolitic, but somewhat cruel. [SHOOTING of the cart is entirely closed in, so that all game must be put in from the front. The tilt is made of stiff waterproof canvas, stretched over a wooden framework. The body, which rests on iron springs, must be strong, as also the frame of the tilt, otherwise they will not bear the weight when loaded. About 18 ins. from the top of the tilt a movable shelf, of the same width as the cart, and about 3 ft. long, is fitted at the back end of the cart. This takes coats, waterproofs, &c. The front of the tilt should be hood-shaped, projecting well over the seat; and good stiff canvas curtains, suspended from the roof and made to draw across the front, will be found very useful in wet weather. A circular opening at the back of the tilt should be left for ventila- Sewin in 15 Beat.
Sewin in Subsequent Beats.
Guns.
Flags. } } 000 E 4 G H シグ ③ S N D 2 C 5 F W B Deep Dell.
A ① On the whole, we cannot regard it as altogether unfortunate for sport that the art of kite-flying has practically been allowed to lapse. For whatever may be said in its favour, one thing is certain, that unless the practice is very sparingly resorted to, it must tend to frighten the birds away.
We have heard of recent experiments to prevent pheasants from straying, by flying kites on the outside of an estate. But what degree of success has attended these efforts we are not prepared to state.
Game Carts. The description of game cart required will depend on the nature of the bag. For partridge shooting, or for small days, a light, two-wheeled vehicle is all that will be necessary; but in covert shooting, where hares and rabbits, besides a large head of pheasants, are killed, a heavier cart is needed. A good light cart on two wheels is constructed as follows:- The cart consists of a movable tilt fixed on a panelled body, 18 ins. high. The back PLAN. tion. The driver's seat should have a slight incline outwards, so as to throw off water, and the space underneath is appropriated to cartridge bags, magazines, &c. Six bars of wood fitting into slots run transversely from side to side of the tilt. These carry screw hooks, upon which the birds are suspended.
Ground game is usually put in the bed of the cart. About 180 pheasants and 200 rabbits can be carried in a cart of this description. We are indebted to a neighbour, an experienced sportsman, for the following details of his game wagon. It was built at Bristol on the lines of a light parcel van; weight, 8½ cwt. Its dimensions are as follows: length, 9 ft. 6 in., width, 4 ft. 6 in., height of tilt, 5 ft. The tilt is made of white canvas on a strong frame. The colour makes it conspicuous in cover. frame must be much stronger than usual, or the weight of game will soon break it down. The game is carried on hooks, which are hung on iron rods made from in.
The SHOOTING] gas piping. The hooks can be cut out of sheet iron and bent up at the ends. The shorter the centre hook is the better. The rods are kept in the bottom of the cart and put up as required. They are supported in the frame of the cover by a hole at one side and a slot at the other. Neither slot nor hole must go through the wood, or the rod will work through the canvas and thereby let in the rain. By hanging game in this way, a van of the dimensions stated will easily hold 1,000 pheasants, and still leave the bottom free for cartridges, magazines, &c. In the front of the van there are some strong hooks to take macintoshes and cartridge bags. The tilt is enclosed both back and front by curtains, fastened with straps and buckles. Above the ordinary tailboard there is a light board about 18 ins. wide, which is fastened on from the inside, and prevents any one from taking out the game on a dark night. The van is large enough to seat eight persons at luncheon, and a table is formed by placing the supplementary tailboard across two or more of the rods. The table runs lengthways down the centre of the van; three people sit on either side and one at each end. The side seats, which are permanently fixed, are formed by a narrow ledge placed just at the set-off of the tilt. In very rough weather this arrangement affords considerable convenience in the absence of a tent or other shelter. The game removed from the inside may be placed under the van.
We may add that although in both the above instances coats, cartridges, &c., have places planned for them in the cart, yet in our opinion it is much better to carry them in a separate vehicle. We know of better conveyance for these articles in the case of a large party than one of his Majesty's discarded mail carts, which has been fitted up for the purpose. no Clothing.-No greater practical discomfort attends sport than that which arises from wet clothes. In our variable climate sport often has to be pursued, day after day, under heavy rain, and the necessity of drying the garments of six or eight guns frequently is found to overtax the resources of a large establishment. Under these circumstances the sportsman may consider himself lucky who finds in the morning his boots, coat, overcoat, &c., even in a halfdried condition. Cartridge bags and gun covers often have no attention at all. Yet it is by no means difficult to make arrangements by which perfect efficiency in drying any reasonable amount of clothes may be secured in a very simple manner and at a small outlay. The task of drying clothes should not be thrown on the kitchen, servants'-hall, or pantry fire. If, however, VOL. IV it cannot be avoided, one of two evils must follow: either a man must be kept up nearly all night to maintain the fire and turn the clothes, or else the wearers must be content with imperfectly dried clothes. We have known the difficulty satisfactorily met by appropriating a spare room in the basement, or an outhouse, for the purposes of a dryingroom. m. All that is actually required is that the room should be kept perfectly clean and free from all furniture, except one slowcombustion stove placed in the centre. The SEWIN IN POSITION. size of the stove must, of course, be adapted to the size of the room. The room must be also well ventilated, or the steam will not escape. The chimney pipe, which should be of iron to radiate the heat, should be carried across the room and up one of the walls inside, passing thence into the outer air. Cords or wires should be stretched tight across the room, upon which the clothes may be hung with pegs, as in a laundry. We have seen in a drying-room tailors' wire dummies, which not only facilitated the drying of the clothes, but kept them in form. With a contrivance of this sort it is quite possible thoroughly to dry the clothes of a large party, between six and nine in the evening, if a proper temperature be maintained. Boots. To young sportsmen the question of dry boots may appear of little moment, but few who have attained the age of forty will despise any expedient which promises to secure to them the comfort of dry socks after walking through wet turnips or other marshy ground. Most of the oldfashioned recipes for waterproofing boots can be relied upon as effectual, but they generally include beeswax in their composition, the use of which renders the leather hard and uncomfortable to the wearer.
Modern receipts are not always so trustworthy, and some of them produce a compound which is not only nasty to handle, but ineffectual to keep out water. For some years we have adopted with complete were success the method of treatment advocated below, and have experienced the comfort of dry feet even when the conditions most adverse. New shooting boots must on no account be blacked, as, if once blacked, it is more difficult to render them waterproof. The laces should first be removed, and a coat of dubbing (Prout's, we use) be applied all over with a brush. The boots should then be placed in a warm cupboard to dry; the process should be repeated three or four times till the leather is well saturated. If they are not required for some time, the boots should be brushed once again with dubbing before they are worn.
After a muddy walk they must be washed thoroughly clean, treed, dried, and dubbed.
Boots that have been thoroughly wetted should be dressed with bootmaker's dye, as the leather may be bleached. In every case, remove the laces before applying the dubbing. When boots are very wet they dry quicker if only skeleton trees are put in overnight; they can be treed up with block trees in the morning. On no account let them stand too near the fire. Treated in this manner, boots made with good leather become practically waterproof.
CHARLES C. TUDWAY, JOHN FREDERICK HALL.
CLAY BIRD SHOOTING. - This pastime, as carried on at gun clubs, resembles pigeon shooting. Artificial instead of live birds are used. The methods adopted are modified, chiefly for the purpose of enabling competitors to shoot at a larger number of birds in a given time. As a means for instruction in the art of game shooting and for purposes of practice, clay birds are also SINGLE-RISE TRAP AND CLAY BIRD. very largely used. This latter is the method adopted at shooting schools and elsewhere. It is dealt with in its place.
History of the Pastime. As a game of skill, clay bird shooting has flourished chiefly in America and Canada. In or about 1875 the substitution for live birds of composition targets, glass balls, and other artificial marks aroused some interest. About twenty years elapsed before any marked progress was made. The first "birds," or, as they are called in America, "targets," [SHOOTING introduced in the now familiar saucer shape were made of clay. An asphalt composition was soon substituted, but the name clay bird" stuck. In 1893 the Inanimate Bird Shooting Association was formed in England. In 1903 the word "clay" was substituted for "inanimate," and the governing body has since been styled "The Clay Bird Shooting Association." Each year since 1893 an annual championship meeting has been held by the Association in London, and other meetings have from time to time been promoted. Organisations controlling the pastime exist also in Belgium, France, Holland, and elsewhere, and also in Canada and the United States.
Methods of Shooting.- The minimum equipment for club shooting on the singlefire principle (that is, in a way similar to that adopted for pigeon shooting) consists of three traps. This battery allows of birds being thrown quartering to the left, straight away and quartering to the right. The shooter is kept in ignorance of which bird he will receive. The full equipment for a first-class club consists of fifteen traps arranged in five groups of three each.
These traps are fixed on the ground level, and behind them a trench is dug. The earth from the trench forms a bank, which hides the traps from the shooters. In the trench, completely screened and protected by the bank, are the trappers. Their duty is to re-fill and set each trap the moment after it has been released by the puller.
The puller has his station behind the firing line. He releases the traps, in the order shown by an indicator, the shooters being kept in ignorance of the angle at which the birds will be thrown. There are five firing marks, each fronting a corresponding group of traps, and the ordinary distance is eighteen yards. In shooting "Down the Line" the competitors are made up in teams of six men. The five first in order take their places at the five marks, and the sixth man stands "in waiting” behind No. I.
Each competitor fires at one bird in turn.
When the fifth man has fired, No. I moves to No. 2, and so on. No. 5 leaves his mark and becomes the competitor "in waiting."
There is thus no delay between the rounds.
A competition usually consists of ten birds to each shooter, but may be extended to any number desired. With the full equipment of fifteen traps, single-fire shooting may also be conducted. One competitor then stands at the centre mark (No. 3), and may have his birds from any one of the fifteen traps. A modification allows two men to be on the line together, standing at No. 2 and No. 4. Handicaps by distance can also be arranged.
The Sergeant System. This system, SHOOTING] very popular in America, requires only three traps. Instead of a trench a banked pit suffices. The three traps are arranged to throw as before. Instead of a single firing mark, five marks are arranged in a radial formation, being placed on the circumference of a circle struck from the centre trap. The radius should be sixteen yards, but in England eighteen yards is more suitable.
This formation, resembling five fan sticks, enables five shooters to take part in the competition, all standing at the same distance from the traps. It is usual, when this system is adopted, to have five men upon the line instead of six. In ten-bird competitions the line moves on after each man has fired two shots, instead of after each shot. The order is the same as in ordinary down-the-line shooting, but, when There are many country clubs in various parts of the kingdom. The London clubs are the Middlesex Gun Club, with shooting grounds at Hendon; the Ealing Gun Club, with shooting grounds near Park Royal; and the North London Gun Club, with shooting grounds at New Southgate. The Middlesex, founded by Mr. Gale in 1895, is the oldest of the London clay bird shooting clubs. Handicapping. -The system of handicapping adopted by the C.B.S.A. is that of allowing one point, equivalent to a broken bird, for each IO per cent. of misses, the handicap being based on monthly percentages. The points are awarded so as to raise the score of the shooter to ten, in a ten-bird competition, provided that the shooter kills two birds above his average.
GUN CLUB GROUNDS, SHOWING FIRING LINE, TRENCH, AND TRAPS. No. 5 has fired, No. I, without moving, takes his next bird, and so on. At the third round No. I moves to No. 2, and fires, No. 5 meanwhile walking down to No. I and taking his bird there, to finish the round. It will be seen that, as there are only five marks from which the ten birds have to be fired at, each shooter must in any case fire at two from each mark. The Sergeant system provides that for competitions at ten birds two are fired at before moving, for fifteen birds three, for twenty birds four, for twenty-five five, and so on.
The cost of equipping a club ground in this manner is comparatively small. The great success of the system in America sufficiently indicates its practicability, but as yet it is seldom adopted in this country. Indeed, it was only at the C.B.S.A. Championship Meeting in 1910 that a competition on these lines was for the first time arranged.
Clubs. Probably Ireland has a larger number of clubs than any other part of the