A good shot will frequently kill twenty single birds in succession, and some persons who have made this sport their specialty have been known to kill many more; but the majority of excellent sportsmen will not kill over nineteen out of twenty. The best field-shots are often bunglers at trap-shooting. Where double birds are shot at, it is rare that twenty are killed without a miss, and an excellent average out of ten double rises would be seventeen birds. The second bird is frequently so far off ere he is fired at, that, even if hit, he will go out of bounds and be recorded as missed, although he falls dead. In this shooting there is much in accident, not only as to the bird’s falling out of bounds, but as to the mode of flight; for if both birds go directly away from the stand, the chances are against the shooter, whereas if one approaches, the difficulty of killing is not much greater than with single birds. In England a better rule in shooting single birds generally prevails, by which the rise is extended to twenty-five or thirty yards, but the shooter is allowed to use both barrels; thus occasionally making some brilliant shots at long distances, and proving the qualities, not merely of the sportsman, but of his weapon. Firing a single barrel at a pigeon within thirty yards, is dull sport; better marksmanship is required to stop him at from thirty-five to forty with the first barrel, even with the additional chance with the second at from forty to fifty. No scattering gun, filling the air with its cloud of mustard-seed, will answer for this work; the closest and strongest-shooting gun will have to be held so true that the centre of the charge will hit the object, to obtain the least chance with the second barrel, or to insure certainty even with the first. Fewer birds that are fairly hit will go out of bounds, as the second barrel may complete the work of the first; and the best marksman will generally exhibit himself by the management of this barrel, to use which at all will require extreme rapidity and accuracy. This fact has been recognised occasionally at conventions, or where the contests were for honor and not money, by increasing the distance at which ties are shot off. In a large match there are always several ties, which are shot off at five birds, and frequently not finished till repeated several times. At the New York State Convention of 1865, held at Niagara Falls, the parties tying one another were set back five yards at every tie, and still at thirty-one yards four birds out of five were killed with a single barrel--although, of course, at this distance much will depend upon the direction and mode of flight. Success, even with the use of both barrels, will require far more brilliant shooting than in the present mode.